At the time, the fjords waters were capped with a layer of sea ice. Atop the ice there are several long, straight lines connecting the towns of Narsarsuaq and Qassiarsuk, and running the length of the fjord. The track that runs the length of the fjord is at least 20 kilometers (12 miles) long.
The fjords waters are really ice-free much of the year, other than for floating icebergs that have broken off from the glacier to the north.
There is a fjord along the islands southern boundary where seasonal ice has actually temporarily exposed the existence of individuals.
On March 13, 2023, the Operational Land Imager-2 (OLI-2) on Landsat 9 got these natural-color images of Tunulliarfik Fjord. The images have actually been pan-sharpened to highlight more detail.
At the time, the fjords waters were capped with a layer of sea ice. Atop the ice there are numerous long, straight lines linking the towns of Narsarsuaq and Qassiarsuk, and running the length of the fjord. Cracks and ridges can form naturally in the ice, there are signs that people were likely included with producing some of the tracks pictured here.
March 13, 2023
March 13, 2023
Nathan Kurtz and a number of other scientists in the Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center reviewed the images. Their agreement was that a number of the tracks, specifically those that consist of loops, were likely produced by lorries, such as snowmobiles. “It promises that locals from the town or nearby were out on the ice, possibly searching or traveling,” Kurtz said.
Traversing the frozen fjord with a car would make sense given its size. The track that connects the towns of Qassiarsuk and Narsarsuaq, visible in the first comprehensive image above, spans about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles). The track that runs the length of the fjord is at least 20 kilometers (12 miles) long.
Combined amidst the geometric shapes, some of the “lines” show more variation. They are especially notable in the 2nd comprehensive image above. “These look like natural ice deformation features, more than likely fractures or ridging due to tidal movement,” Kurtz said.
As spring turns to summertime, the snow and ice will loosen its grip on the area. The fjords waters are actually ice-free much of the year, except for floating icebergs that have actually broken off from the glacier to the north. And as snow melts from the land, white will be replaced with hints of green. Qassiarsuk is within the Kujataa World Heritage Site, which is acknowledged as the earliest Arctic landscape to have been farmed.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey.
Natural-color pictures of Tunulliarfik Fjord caught on March 13, 2023, by the Operational Land Imager-2 (OLI-2) on Landsat 9.
Courses that crossed the still-frozen Tunulliarfik Fjord in southern Greenland were most likely made by people.
Images from Landsat 9s OLI-2 captured in March 2023 expose long, straight lines on southern Greenlands Tunulliarfik Fjord, most likely produced by people utilizing cars such as snowmobiles for travel or searching.
Greenland does not have an apparent human fingerprint when viewed from space. Instead of sprawling cities or geometrically arranged agriculture, an enormous ice sheet covers much of the island. There is a fjord along the islands southern border where seasonal ice has actually momentarily revealed the presence of people.