The National Park in north and east Greenland

A Nansen sled on the ice sheet, 1963. The photo was taken by Einar Gade-Jørgensen, who participated in several Greenland expeditions, including with archaeologist Eigil Knuth’s second Danish Pearyland Expedition, from which the photograph originates. Eigil Knuth was on several expeditions in this rugged northeastern part of Greenland, where the country’s northernmost research station, Brøndlundhus, is located.
EINAR GADE-JØRGENSEN / ARKTISK INSTITUT, 1963

The world’s largest national park of 970,579 km² covers the north-eastern part of Greenland. The national park stretches from Hall Land in the northwest to Jameson Land in the southeast. The national park covers a coastline of more than 18,000 km, large parts of the ice sheet and the world’s northernmost land area where different peoples have been able to sustain life for thousands of years based on the High Arctic animal species.

Besides early Inuit cultures and expedition huts, there are still several hundred huts from the Danish/Norwegian hunting period. Many of these are now maintained by Nanok – an association that restores selected huts each summer.

Outside the National Park, to the south in Jameson Land, lies Nerlerit Inaat Airport (Constable Point). The airport serves as the main gateway to the national park as well as to the town of Ittoqqortoormiit.

The area was designated a national park by the Danish Nature Protection Agency in 1974. Access to the park is extremely limited. Apart from hunters from Ittoqqortoormiit and very few tourists, only employees from the weather service, the military and researchers come to the national park. Less than 50 permanent residents undertake monitoring and research at the six stations in the national park.

Mestersvig

Mestersvig is an abandoned mining town that since 1988 has served as a small logistic platform for the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol, which has kept a runway open and supervised expeditions.

Daneborg

Daneborg to the south is the headquarters of the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol, whose task is to enforce Denmark’s sovereignty in North and Northeast Greenland and to keep track of expeditions and enforce conservation regulations in the National Park.

Zackenberg Research Station

Established in 1995, the Zackenberg Research Station is a scientific station 22 km from Daneborg. The station, which officially opened in 1997, was established in collaboration between the then Danish Polar Centre and the University of Copenhagen. Located in a High Arctic climate zone that reacts earlier than other zones to changes in global weather, the research station’s main task is to study and measure climate fluctuations and their impact on ecosystems.

Since its establishment, Zackenberg has served as a field station from May to October. The station is owned by the Self-Government and operated by the Aarhus University.

Danmarkshavn

Further north lies Danmarkshavn, now a weather station, formerly a base station for the Denmark Expedition (1906‑08). As part of a global network of radiosonde stations, the staff launches a weather balloon with measuring instruments twice a day.

Station North/Villum Research Station

Station Nord is Danish Defence’s northernmost military station where five men are tasked with keeping a runway open all year round. The station was established in the period 1952‑56 as a weather and telecommunications station with a runway. In 2014, Villum Research Station was established at Station North, and the station serves as an interdisciplinary research platform and a springboard for research expeditions into North Greenland. The station is open all year round, owned by the Self-Government and operated by the Aarhus University.

Brønlundhus

Brønlundhus is the northernmost research station in Greenland. It was established by the Danish Pearyland Expedition in 1948 and served as a base for the expedition. Today, the Centre for Permafrost at University of Copenhagen maintains a monitoring program focusing on climate and permafrost at the station.