Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

136 results found

Sverdrup, Otto

(Encyclopedia)Sverdrup, Otto svĕrˈdro͝op [key], 1855–1930, Norwegian arctic explorer. A companion of Fridtjof Nansen on the voyage across Greenland in 1888 and on Nansen's later (1893–96) polar expedition, ...

Davis Strait

(Encyclopedia)Davis Strait, c.400 mi (640 km) long and c.180 mi (290 km) wide at the narrowest point, between Greenland and Baffin Island, NE Canada, connecting the Atlantic Ocean and Baffin Bay. Large amounts of i...

Norwegian Sea

(Encyclopedia)Norwegian Sea, part of the Atlantic Ocean, NW of Norway, between the Greenland Sea and the North Sea. It is separated from the Atlantic by a submarine ridge linking Iceland and the Faeroe Islands, and...

Kane Basin

(Encyclopedia)Kane Basin, 110 mi (177 km) long, part of the channel between NW Greenland and E Ellesmere Island. The Humboldt Glacier flows into the basin. It is named for the U.S. explorer Elisha K. Kane. ...

Uummannaq

(Encyclopedia)Uummannaq or Umanak both: o͞oˈmännäkˌ [key], town (1996 pop. 1,497), W Greenland, on an inlet of Baffin Bay. A hunting and fishing base, it has a canning factory. Marble is quarried there. ...

Morris Jesup, Cape

(Encyclopedia)Morris Jesup, Cape jĕsˈəp [key], northernmost land point in the world, N Greenland. At lat. 83°39′N, it is 440 mi (708 km) from the North Pole. U.S. explorer Robert Peary reached the cape in 189...

Peary, Robert Edwin

(Encyclopedia)Peary, Robert Edwin pērˈē [key], 1856–1920, American arctic explorer, b. Cresson, Pa. In 1881 he entered the U.S. navy as a civil engineer and for several years served in Nicaragua, where he was ...

Isfjorden

(Encyclopedia)Isfjorden ēsˌfyôrˈdən [key] [Ice Fjord], inlet of the Greenland Sea and largest fjord of Spitsbergen island, Svalbard, Norway, 65 mi (105 km) long and from 8 to 20 mi (12.8–32 km) wide. It rece...

Humboldt Glacier

(Encyclopedia)Humboldt Glacier, NW Greenland. The largest known glacier of the Northern Hemisphere, it debouches into Kane Basin along a front c.60 mi (100 km) wide and 300 ft (91 m) high. U.S. explorer Elisha K. K...

Maniitsoq

(Encyclopedia)Maniitsoq so͝okˈərtôˌpən [key], town (1996 pop. 3,000), Maniitsoq dist., W Greenland. The town is a fishing center with modern canneries. ...