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Of the countless fjords that cut into the west coast of Greenland, Sondre Strom is one of the largest. One of the most famous also for travelers crossing this area of 2 million square kilometers. In fact, the island’s largest airport, the only one where transatlantic flights can land because of a long runway ceded by the American army at the end of World War II, is located right on the axis of the fjord.
Fjord Sondre Strom provides access to a huge tongue of sand near Kangerlussuaq, under Russell Glacier, here on May 23, 2022.
On the banks of the river that flows into the Sondre Strom fjord, this sand deposit is one of the largest in Greenland. At Kangerlussuaq, May 22, 2022.
Daniel Lennert Johnsen, stationed on the hills a few kilometers from the site, can identify the origin of any aircraft approaching this end-of-the-world airport. Originally from Sisimiut, a coastal town with 5,500 inhabitants, the 20-year-old driver settled here after leaving school in Denmark, fascinated by these wild, deserted landscapes: “You can tell that we are the country in the world with the most space per capita. And with good reason: 85% covered by ice, the largest island in the northern hemisphere, four times the size of France, has only 56,000 inhabitants, 19,000 of them in the capital Nuuk, 300 kilometers further south. . “I love driving on these vast stretches of tundra, and winter is magical here when the fjord is frozen to ice and a blanket of snow covers the hills,” admits the young man.
Inexhaustible from the way of life of the arctic hares, caribou or musk oxen introduced to Kangerlussuaq in the 1950s – the containers that ensured their transport from Norway rusting on the side of the airport road – Daniel is less aware of the natural resources that are plentiful are the region and the desires that arouse it. Starting with the one that occupies the entire horizon line that he scans with his eyes: the sand. On this May day, when the Strom probe is free of ice, an endless tongue of sand stretches out to the sea, trod only by migratory birds or a few white foxes.
Daniel Lennert Johnsen, educated in Denmark, returned to settle in Greenland because of the vastness of his landscapes. At Kangerlussuaq, May 23, 2022.
Water and ice shape the sand deposits of Sondre Strom in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, May 23, 2022.
Given Greenland’s geological history, this wealth is not surprising. “Glacier erosion is one of the most powerful tools for modeling the Earth’s crust and forming sediments,” recalls Eric Chaumillon, a marine geology specialist at the University of La Rochelle-CNRS. However, the polar regions warm up very quickly, so that the glacier melt is very strong there. “For most of the planet, climate change will be accompanied by disasters, more frequent flooding in low-lying areas, accelerated thawing of mountain permafrost, continues the teacher-researcher. But it creates a windfall effect in the polar regions by providing access to previously untapped resources. For them it’s a bit like discovering the new world! »
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