Jonsbu Explained

Jónsbú
Other Name:Norsk Petersbugt Station
Pushpin Map:Greenland
Pushpin Relief:yes
Pushpin Map Caption:Location within Greenland
Coordinates:75.3231°N -20.3733°W
Subdivision Type:State
Subdivision Name:Denmark
Subdivision Type1:Constituent country
Subdivision Name1:Greenland
Subdivision Type2:Zone
Subdivision Name2:NE Greenland National Park
Established Title:Built
Established Date:1932
Population As Of:2019
Population Total:0
Timezone:UTC-01

Jonsbu was a Norwegian hunting and radio station (Jonsbu Radio/LMW)[1] located on the coast of Eastern Greenland in present-day King Christian X Land.[2]

Administratively the area where the hut stood belongs now to the Northeast Greenland National Park.

The site is located in southern Hochstetter Foreland on the western side of Peters Bay, northeast of the mouth of Ardencaple Fjord, about 15km (09miles) from Cape Klinkerfues.[3]

History

See also: Greenland in World War II. The station was built in 1932 by John Giæver's expedition, about 15km (09miles) northeast of the mouth of Ardencaple Fjord. It was named "Jónsbú" after Norwegian journalist John Schjelderup Giæver (1901–1970), who lived as a hunter and trapper in East Greenland from 1929 to 1934. The station had also been known as "Norsk Petersbugt Station".

Together with Myggbukta, as well as Storfjord, Torgilsbu and Finnsbu further south, Jonsbu became part of the Norwegian contribution to the International Polar Year 1932–33. [4]

The original station was burnt down in August 1943 during World War II in an attack by Greenland Patrol ship . The ship destroyed the station in order to prevent its facilities from being used by the military of the Third Reich.[4]

In 1948, well after the end of the war, the new Jónsbú Station was built in a new location south of Peters Bay, on the other side of Ardencaple Fjord by the mouth of Kildedal at 75.2467°N -72.6°W. In order to differentiate the two huts, the ruin of the old station is also known as "Gamle Jonsbu" (Old Jonsbu) —although the name "Jónsbú Station" is still officially applied to it— and the new one as "Ny Jonsbu".

Bibliography

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. 'Kystradio - Stasjonshistorie
  2. Web site: Jónsbú Station. Mapcarta. 7 August 2019.
  3. Prostar Sailing Directions 2005 Greenland and Iceland Enroute, p. 124
  4. Web site: Catalogue of place names in northern East Greenland . Geological Survey of Denmark . 7 August 2019.