Krossfjord
| Krossfjord | ||
|---|---|---|
 Krossfjord with Grimalditoppen |
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| Waters | Greenland Sea | |
| Land mass | Spitsbergen | |
| Geographical location | 79 ° 9 ′ N , 11 ° 45 ′ E | |
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| width | up to 6 km | |
| length | 30 km | |
| Islands | Kohnøya | |
The Krossfjord ( Norwegian Krossfjorden ) is a fjord in the northwest of the island of Svalbard . It separates Albert I Land in the west from Haakon VII Land in the east.
geography
Together with the Kongsfjord , the Krossfjord opens north of Prins Karls Forland at about 79 ° north latitude to the Greenland Sea . While the Kongsfjord extends in a south-easterly direction, the Krossfjord runs in a north-south direction. It is about 30 kilometers long and at its entrance between Collinsodden on the Mitrahalvøya peninsula in the north and Cape Guissez in the southeast up to 6 kilometers wide. The 700 m high peninsula Kong Haakons Halvøy divides the Krossfjord into the western Lilliehöökfjord and the eastern Möllerfjord, the innermost part of which is called Kollerfjord.
The catchment area of the Krossfjord is 829 km². 551 km² or 67% of it is glaciated . The ice volume of the glacier is 94 km³. The largest in the Krossfjord calving are clockwise, the Forbesbreen which Brücknerbreen which Lilliehöökbreen which Supanbreen which Kollerbreen which Mayerbreen which Tinayrebreen and Fjortende Julibreen. The outer area of the Krossfjord is over 300 m deep. It contains 25 km³ of water.
nature
landscape
The landscape at the Krossfjord is mountainous, only on the coasts at Cape Guissez and Collinsodden there are flatter areas. The country in the north and east is extensively glaciated. The glaciers that calve into the fjord - especially the eight kilometer wide Lilliehöökbreen - often have impressive fronts.
flora
The west coast of Svalbard is under the warming influence of the Gulf Stream . The relatively mild climate at Krossford allows lichens and mosses to grow in abundance in unglaciated areas. Especially below bird colonies , e.g. B. in the Fjortende Julibukta, fertilization with animal excrement also allows the growth of vascular plants .
fauna
There are numerous bird cliffs by the Krossfjord. One of the largest colonies located on the Casimir Périerkammen in Fjortende Julibukta where fulmars , kittiwakes , thick-billed murres , black guillemots and puffins nest. The same species can also be found in the Tinayrebukta and at Kongshamaren on the southern tip of the Kong Haakons Halvøy. Crab divers breed on three cliffs in the Tinayrebukta, among other places. There are further colonies of seabirds in the Kollerfjord and on the west side of the Lilliehöökfjord on the headland Nilspynten and on the Willeberg. Arctic skuas and arctic foxes are common near the bird colonies . Other birds living in the fjord are the rock ptarmigan , the arctic tern , the king eider , the snow bunting , the sandpiper , the red-throated diver and the long-tailed duck .
The glaciers that calve into the fjord create good living conditions for ringed seals . Also, bearded seals and beluga whales are found here. Polar bears are relatively rare in the area, but reindeer are present.
natural reserve
The Krossfjord is located entirely in the Nordvest-Spitsbergen National Park, founded in 1973 . This is also designated by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (SJ002).
history
The Krossfjord was regularly visited by whalers as early as the 17th century . The British explorer Jonas Poole called it Close Cove. He anchored on June 1, 1610 in the bay that is now called Ebeltofthamna (German also Ebeltofthafen ). Poole put a cross here and named it Cross Road. The first English whaling station on Svalbard was located here. Remnants of a potion kettle and a house foundation are preserved, as is a burial ground. In Ebeltofthamna there are also the remains of a fishing station that was operated by Russian pomors . Between 1843 and 1844 24 Norwegian seal hunters who had been shipwrecked on the north coast wintered here.
In 1906 and 1907, Gunnar Isachsen , financed by Prince Albert I of Monaco , carried out topographic and oceanographic surveys in north-west Spitsbergen, including in the Krossfjord. Many of the geographic names in the area today go back to this expedition. In 1910, Ferdinand von Zeppelin , accompanied by well-known scientists, went on a study trip with the steamer Mainz in order to find a suitable base on Spitsbergen for his airship to travel through the Arctic . He also visited the Krossfjord. In 1912 , the meteorologist Hugo Hergesell founded the Ebeltofthafen geophysical observatory to further investigate the climatic conditions . The first German weather station on Svalbard was manned all year round until the outbreak of the First World War .
From 1910, Norwegian fur hunters overwintered on the Krossfjord. The first hunting lodges were in Ebeltofthamna and at Cape Guissez. In 1911 Henry Rudi , who had lost his brother during the previous winter, built Camp Zöe on Tinayrebukta for the Northern Exploration Company of the English businessman Ernest Mansfield (1862-1924).
During the Second World War , the German Wehrmacht maintained manned weather stations in Signehamna to obtain weather data in the Arctic Ocean and to forecast the weather in Central Europe . The Knospe weather group worked there from 1941 to 1942, and the Nussbaum weather group from 1942 to 1943 .
Because of its beauty and easy accessibility, the Krossfjord is one of the most popular tourist destinations on Svalbard today. In 2001, Möllerhamna was the second most landfall of tourists after Gravodden in the Magdalenefjord .
Web links
- Krossfjorden . In: The Place Names of Svalbard (first edition 1942). Norsk Polarinstitutt , Oslo 2001, ISBN 82-90307-82-9 (English, Norwegian).
- Rolf Stange: Krossfjord on www.spitzbergen.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Harald Svendsen et al. : The physical environment of Kongsfjorden – Krossfjorden, an Arctic fjord system in Svalbard . In: Polar Research . Volume 21, No. 1, 2002, pp. 133-166. doi: 10.3402 / polar.v21i1.6479 (English)
- ↑ a b c Rolf Stange: Krossfjord on www.spitzbergen.de.
- ↑ a b Øystein Overrein: Kongsfjorden's and Krossfjordens's wildlife , Cruise Handbook of Svalbard, Norsk Polarinstitutt (English).
- ↑ Northwest Spitsbergen National Park (SJ002) on the BirdLife International website, accessed May 10, 2020.
- ^ William Martin Conway: No Man's Land: A History of Spitsbergen from Its Discovery in 1596 to the Beginning of the scientific exploration of the country. The Cambridge University Press Warehouse, Cambridge 1906, p. 34 .
- ↑ a b Kristin Prestvold: Kongsfjorden's history and cultural remains , Cruise Handbook of Svalbard, Norsk Polarinstitutt (English).
- ↑ a b Gustav Rossnes: Norsk Overvintringsfangst på Svalbard 1895-1940 (PDF; 7.7 MB), Norsk Polarinstitutt, Meddelelser No. 127, Oslo 1993, p. 110 (Norwegian).
- ↑ Susan Barr: Gunnar Isachsen . In: Norsk biografisk leksikon . (Norwegian, nbl.snl.no [accessed May 12, 2020]).
- ^ Adolf Miethe , Hugo Hergesell (ed.): With Zeppelin to Spitzbergen . Bong, Berlin and Leipzig 1911.
- ^ Hans Steinhagen : Course and results of the Spitzbergen expedition by K. Wegener and M. Robitzsch, 1912–1913. ( Memento from March 11, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Meteorologentagung DACH 2007, Hamburg 10. – 14. September 2007 (PDF; 4.0 MB).
- ↑ Cruiseturisme på Svalbard. Omfang and efekter (PDF; 187 kB). Norsk Polarinstitutt, accessed May 13, 2020 (Norwegian)