Greenland, the biggest island in the world with a length of 2,670 km, and with 65.000 inhabitants.
85 percent of the 2,175,600-kilometer² big area is covered with a solid icecap. Some places, the icecap reach 3,500 m of altitude, near the center, and some places, the ice is over 1,370 m thick. If all the ice suddenly melt, all the water around in the world oceans will rice 7 meter!
From the icecap, ribbons of ice descent, along mountain valleys and steep slopes, pushing hills of big rocks and gravel in front of them. Other times, the glaciers hang high up on a ravine. Some places join the glaciers direct with the ocean, and some of them, moves with a speed of 25-30 meter per day, berthing icebergs, with a size of a 10 stores building.

One of the most active places, is the Wolstenholme fjord, witch is located north of Thule air base. It’s a fjord, covering an area on approx. 1500 kilometer². This Fjord is of some, called the biggest ice machine in the world. There are 4 big glaciers, which ends up in the same fjord.

The Force which get the glaciers moving, is created by the fact, that the icecap each year, get thicker, in fact of summer, and winter, and thereby get more and more heavy. Ice is like plastic, so it got to get out again, one or another way and that’s what get glaciers moving. The age of the ice, which get bounced out in the fjord, is very old, because it’s the first ice, coming out, so the ice is approx. 100,000 years old. The reason, why there are blue and white icebergs, is because, if an iceberg comes from the icecap, and thereby is frozen fresh water, then the color is blue, contrary sea icebergs, which are white of that reason, of the salt in the water.

The native people of Greenland are believed to be descendants of aboriginal hunters and the "Thule Culture" which probably came to Greenland about the same time as the Norsemen who later vanished.

The native peoples (Eskimo culture) of the arctic are known more traditionally as Inuit--"the People". The term "Greenlander" is usually given to all native people of Greenland. The native people of northwestern Greenland, who distinguish themselves from other West Greenlanders, are given their own name by themselves--Inuit meaning "great and beautiful human beings".

Northwest Greenland is known as the Thule District or Avanersuaq.

Greenland was under European colonial rule since 1721. In 1953, Greenland became part of the Kingdom of Denmark. On May 1, 1979 Home Rule was introduced in Greenland. The capital city of Greenland is Nuuk.

Thule Air Base 76° 32' N, 68° 45' W
is about 900 miles from the North Pole. Placed near Dundas, a former trading station founded in 1910 by Knud Rasmussen, he used the place as a base for several of his expeditions.

The airport, and the base was build by the American government in 1951 in just 100 days, or so under total secrecy, with the code name "Blue Jay". The main job was supplying long-range bomb machines with fuel, pointed against the Soviet Union.

The size of construction problems, building Thule is hard to understand. Try to imagine the icebreakers punching trough 6 feet thick sea ice, followed by 63 supply ships into the North Star Bay, Thursday the 9 of July 1951.

With all the workers (4,000 men) which again, left Thule by plane in October the same year. After they have build a big paved runway (100 x 10000 feet), taxi roads, and airplane parking pads.

Several huge airplane hangers, each with 8 doors, weighing over 200 tons each, lots of big fuel tanks, barracks and supply facilities for 4,000 men, warehouses, roads, and other necessities for a small village. All this, which was buildt on permafrost, to withstand winds in excess of 240 km/hour, and for temperatures below -40° Celsius! ! !

In the following years the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) was built, which could catch an image, of a subject in the size of a door over the Soviet Union. Later some other radar system followed for improving tracking, and prediction of the implant aria of missiles that left the USSR, or was fired from a submarine. Satellite tracking capabilities was also added.

Different scientific effort, was launched from Thule, one of the ambitious projects was Camp Century (77° 10' N, 61° 08' W). Which was built into the icecap in 1959, placed 138 miles, approx. 225 km ENE from Thule. Thy even had a nuclear power plant.

Camp Tuto ie. Camp Thule-take-off. The supply base at the edge of the icecap, provided Camp Century with supplies, which was transported on lorries from Thule, where they were packed on big sledges pulled by Snowcat´s. Camp Century was closed down in 1966, and Camp Tuto, was closed the year after, after what rumors told, up to 220 men was there at one time.

The time I was there, back in 1981, Camp Tuto still was there, as that day the base was left back in 1967, at the rooms, there still were pictures, of girlfriends, and pinups. In the dining room there were still plates and cups on the tables with food on, chairs were spread around in the room, as somebody has yelled! "You got a ½ hour to pack".

Some times, Thule, and surrounding facilities have been home for more than 10,000 people at one time. Today is there only around 800 men and women, of which approx. 200 are American soldiers. Trough the years, with ballistic missiles, more advanced bomb planes, refueling in the air, and satellites, has Thule's defense mission slightly changed a bit, but still, Thule Air Base is some piece of work! For the time being Thule Air Base is home base for 12th Space Warning Squadron; Detachment 3, 2nd Satellite Tracking Group; Danish and American contractors.