ASTRAY IN THE ARTIC: GREENLAND

Text & Photos by Deng Ying Translation by Sonia

ASTRAY IN THE ARTIC: GREENLAND

Text & Photos by Deng Ying Translation by Sonia

Eighty per cent of the land in Greenland is covered by snow and ice, although its name would suggest otherwise. When our ship sails on the enormous ocean in the Arctic Circle, passing through the gigantic glaciers, it seems time has stopped and one can easily get lost at the end of the world.

A ship pushing ahead in the snowy and icy world.船只在白色世界中穿行。

极地迷航：格陵兰

尽管“格陵兰”的本意为“绿色土地”，实际上这里80%的土地都由冰雪覆盖着。当船行驶在北极圈浩瀚的海面上，穿行于巨大的冰川之间，仿佛时间停滞了，就这样迷失在世界的尽头。

Colourful houses make Greenland look more vibrant.彩色房屋使格陵兰看起来不至于太单调。

Secluded Ice And Oceans

Norway in Scandinavia is a country of fjords. As a matter of fact, Greenland in the further north is also an island of fjords. There are over 40 fjords along the coastline, and many of them rank highly compared to other fjords around the world. As the cruise sailed off from the harbor, the colorful cottages in the coastal town gradually disappeared from view. These colorful houses are much appreciated in Greenland - without them, the colour white would be overwhelming. The ice chunks and icebergs breaking from the glaciers everyday contribute to the unique landscape of Ilulissat Icefjord, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Not long after we set sail, the icebergs and ice chunks floating in the fjord suddenly came into sight. You find yourself surrounded by the oceans, and ice, small and big, passing in front of you. When the ship arrived in the deep of the fjord, the captain turned off the engine and all of a sudden it went quiet. You can almost hear the sound of seabirds flapping their wings and the crunching sound of the glaciers taking in the sea water. The huge icebergs aglow with phosphorescence under the sun are aloof and beautiful.

There is large amount of carbon in the ice of Greenland. There are continuous explosion sounds when the ice falls into water. The ice, which is called“eternal ice” is considered a very good cooler for beverages. It is extremely clean and pure - a sip of the eternal ice in a hot summer day is beyond extravagant. Greenland abounds in “eternal ice”- the ice sheets on average are as thick as 2,300 meters, second only to the continental glaciers in Antarctica.

孤傲的冰与海

北欧的挪威是峡湾之乡，其实，更北的格陵兰，也是一个峡湾之岛。环岛沿岸40多个峡湾，其中不乏峡湾世界中的各种之最。游船驶出港口，岸上小镇里五颜六色的小木屋渐渐远去。格陵兰太需要色彩鲜艳的房屋了，否则，将到处一片雪白。每日从冰川崩裂下来的冰块、冰山，成就了这里独特的冰峡湾景观，亦被列入世界自然遗产。

出港不久，峡湾上漂浮的冰山、冰块仿佛神兵天降，忽然出现眼前。四周除了海，就是冰，小的冰块，大的冰山，依次从眼前掠过。行驶到冰峡湾深处，船长关掉马达，周围忽然安静下来，你仿佛能听到海鸟扇动翅膀的声音，听到冰川吸收海水发出的莺莺细语。巨大的冰山，在阳光下闪烁着磷光，冷艳而美丽。

格陵兰岛的冰块内含有大量汽泡，放入水中，会发出持续的爆裂声，是一种非常好的冷饮剂。人们将其称为“万年冰”。这种冰既洁净，纯度又高，在严热的夏日喝上一口“万年冰”是种难得的享受。格陵兰盛产“万年冰”，冰层平均厚度为2300米，仅次于南极洲巨大的大陆冰川。

Spectacular glaciers.令人震撼的冰川奇观。

A lovely Eskimo kid.可爱的爱斯基摩孩子。

The Eskimo Measure Against the Cold

There are more than 50,000 inhabitants in Greenland, nearly one person per 40 square kilometer on average. It is the least populated country in the world, except for Antarctica. Most of the Greenlanders are a mix of Eskimo and European. The Eskimo resemble the Asians in the appearance. With black hair and brown eyes, they are short, stout, and wide-faced; very apt for the environment on the island. The Eskimo traditionally live in igloos - dome-shaped houses built of blocks of ice. There aren't even windows and retaining walls in and around the houses. The igloos are gorgeous but one can be frozen to death by staying overnight in them.

The Eskimo are able to live in the igloos all yearround because they have a special item of clothing called an anorak. Anoraks are windproof and rainproof. One can survive sleeping in the snow at severe temperature way below zero. To gain enough calories against the cold, the Eskimo eat raw meat. They skin the hunted animals such as goats, caribous, seals, foxes, whales, and polar bears, and eat the meat raw. They eat the dealfish, shrimps, and salmons raw as well. The housewives are not concerned about having to spend too much time on cooking. All the time saved will be used on making anoraks: they chew the caribou skins over and over in their mouths - the more the skin is chewed, the better it will be in warm keeping - and sew the skins to clothes. However, it is nearly impossible to see the indigenous Inuit life style in Greenland today. With the help from the Danish government, the Eskimos have leaped to the modern society from the primitive living within 20 years. There were even no electric lights in the 1970s. And the modern electrical appliances are all available nowadays.

爱斯基摩人的防寒术

格陵兰岛居民有5万多人，平均近40平方公里才有一个人，是世界上除了南极洲以外人口密度最小的地方。大部分格陵兰人是爱斯基摩人和欧洲人的混血。爱斯基摩人属于黄种人，他们黑头发，眼睛是深棕色，体形矮胖，面孔宽阔，十分适宜于岛上的生活环境。爱斯基摩人传统居住的房屋叫作冰屋，他们用大块的冰砌成半圆形，房子还设有冰窗与挡雪墙。冰屋十分漂亮，但我们住一夜恐怕就会因寒冷而死。爱斯基摩人之所以可以长年住在冰屋里，是因为他们有一种特制的衣服——阿奴拉古。阿奴拉古风吹不透，雨打不湿。穿着它在零下几十度的冰天雪地里睡觉也安然无恙。为了有足够的热量抵御严寒，爱斯基摩人吃生肉，他们将猎取到的动物，诸如羊、鹿、海豹、狐狸、鲸鱼、北极熊等剥皮后生吃，捕捞到的鳍鱼、虾、格陵兰大比目鱼和鲑鱼等也被活生生地吞到肚子中去。主妇们不用为做饭耗费精力而发愁，将节约出的时间用来制作阿奴拉古：她们先是将驯鹿皮用嘴咀嚼，一遍又一遍，嚼得越好越保暖，然后再缝制成衣服。不过，如今在格陵兰，你想要看到最原生态的爱斯基摩人生活，几乎不太可能了。丹麦政府的帮助使得爱斯基摩人在20年里，从原始社会飞跃进入现代社会。这里1970年代还没有电灯，而现在，现代化的电器应有尽有。

Sledges are still a major means of transportation for Eskimos.雪橇依旧是爱斯基摩人重要的交通工具。

Sailing in Icy Waters.(Getty)在冰川中穿行的奇幻情境。

Beautiful auroras can be seen in Greenland.在格陵兰可以看到美丽的北极光。

Illusionary Auroras

Most of Greenland is located in the Arctic Circle and its northest part enjoys eternal sun and eternal night for 260 days a year. The sun does not set since it rises in summer and won't come up after going down in winter. In the northern hemisphere, the auroras can be seen in Alaska of the US, northern Canada, Greenland, and the five Scandinavian countries. To see the auroras, one will have to go north and get away from the light pollution in the city.

The night view of the artic is breathtaking - with stars twinkling and the moon shining in the sky, Greenland is a crystal silver world in the dark night. All sorts of auroras flash in the night sky like waves tumbling ashore: some auroras are fine like silks, and some are like ribbons flying up and down in a dancers' hands. The dazzling auroras put the watchers in awe of the beauty of nature that cannot be reproduced by man. The enormous energy thrust into the atmospheric layers after the aurora phenomenon is as strong as the sum of energy generated by all the power plants on earth. The Greenlanders are looking into turning the aurora energy to controllable electricity to benefit the residents.

梦幻北极光

格陵兰岛大部分地处北极圈内，最北部一年有260天处于极昼与极夜之中。太阳在夏季升上天空就不落下去，到了冬季落下去又不肯出来。在北半球，美国阿拉斯加，加拿大北部，格陵兰，北欧五国，都很有可能看到北极光。除了要往北走外，还要远离城市的光污染。

极夜的景色十分美丽，星光闪烁，一轮明月高高挂在空中，沉沉夜色笼罩下的格陵兰成为晶莹剔透的银色世界。茫茫夜空中，各种各样的极光不断变幻，有的如滚滚红潮在翻滚，有的细如游丝，轻盈素淡，有的状如彩带，在舞蹈者的手中上下飘飞。炫目的极光使观者心醉神驰，深深地感觉到自然创造的难以用人工超越的美。极光出现后在地球大气层中投下巨大的能量，其巨大程度可以和世界各国电厂所产生的电容量总和相比。格陵兰人正期冀着将极光的能量变成可以控制的电力，为格陵兰人民造福。

Melting glaciers.正在融化的冰川。

A whale appearing from beneath the sea.露出海面的鲸鱼。