If I Were Going...: Maria Ø

Maria Ø

I mentioned earlier that Ella Ø lies at the confluence of the Kejser Franz Joseph and King Oscar Fjord Systems. Ella is fairly large at 55 square miles and about 37 miles of coastline.

Just south of Ella Ø is Maria Ø, a remote, uninhabited island within the Northeast Greenland National Park, specifically at the intersection of Antarctic Sound, Kempe Fjord and Kong Oscar Fjord.

Our approach

Maria Ø is known for its dramatic Arctic scenery, featuring high cliffs, deep fjords and nearby glaciers, and is a stop on many polar expedition cruises.

A stop for us, too; Photo: Fellow traveler

The island is named after the daughter of Swedish Explorer Alfred Gabriel Nathorst, whose 1899 expedition discovered the connection between Kejser Franz Joseph and Kong Oscar.

Our ship in Maria's bay

Maria Ø has remains of a decommissioned summer research station and of a former Nazi weather outpost. The Nazis used several Arctic outposts to gather weather data to support military operations in Europe during World War II.

Remote and tricky to reach

We landed on a broad, flat scree-covered beach and walked up a rise that looked as though it had been purposefully terraced.

Landing spot

The broad bands in the rock, called marine terraces, were caused by post-glacial isostatic rebound. That's when land slowly rises after being relieved of the immense weight of glaciers and is then eroded by fluctuating sea levels.

As the land lifts in stages, ancient shorelines are exposed as distinct, elevated steps. Then, wave action further shapes them.

Gently rolling waves of scree

These stepped landscapes are covered with fine gravel or sand, boulders and "patterned ground" caused by Arctic freezing/thawing cycles. The marine terraces were frequently used by Paleo-Eskimo populations for settlements, with archaeological sites often found on the elevated beach ridges.

While much of the surface was fine gravel, the rolling hills were also covered with a willow/aspen forest, with a twist ...

This forest is only about an inch tall

A feature of the landscape was an ice-edged lake, beautifully reflecting the mountain peaks as the sun rose in the distance.

Unlike anything else we saw in Greenland

The bay we anchored in was brilliant blue and generally ice free, except for a couple of stranded icebergs.

There was little ice except a few big bergs

Some large icebergs protrude too deep under the surface and snag on shallow bay bottoms.

They can then sit for months until they are washed free or melt enough to float free

We took the Medium Slow narrated hike at Maria Ø, walking past the lake and then up some rock-covered hills to a low vista point above. Other hiking groups spread out so that we could see tiny dots of yellow-clad hikers across the broad plain and on mountains above us.

Such a broad vista that it is easy to miss all the hikers in this shot

The region is known for sightings of Muskoxen, Polar Bears and various bird species. Although we saw no wildlife (not even any birds), we saw ample evidence that some had been there, including ...

Muskox tracks and ...

Polar Bear tracks and fur

There was a debate among guides about how recent the animals had been there; some thought that morning, some thought last season, positing that snow had covered and protected the prints. From the way they looked, I think the same morning made more sense.

We also saw some remnants of human habitation, including ...