Qaanaaq, Northern town in Avannaata, Greenland
Qaanaaq sits in northwestern Greenland at roughly 77 degrees north latitude and 246 meters above sea level. The settlement spreads along a flat coastal strip, where a few dozen colorful wooden houses stand in rows between the dark rocky slopes and the shores of the Arctic Ocean.
The town was founded in 1953 after the population of the region was displaced from their original site farther south to allow construction of an American military base. The people moved north and rebuilt the settlement at the edge of the ice fjords, where they have lived ever since.
Residents speak Inuktun among themselves, an Inuit dialect heard only in this part of northwestern Greenland. During the winter months, dog sleds become the main way to travel when hunters head out onto the pack ice to catch seals and walrus.
Connection to the outside world comes through small aircraft operated by Air Greenland flying from Upernavik, while everything within the settlement can be reached on foot or by snowmobile. During winter, daylight can be almost entirely absent for several months, while in summer the sun does not set for weeks at a time.
A monitoring instrument operated by the Danish weather service sits outside the town and records acoustic waves in the atmosphere that can originate from tests or explosions in distant parts of the world. The station is part of a global network that watches for signals around the clock that are inaudible to the human ear.
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