Eismitte

Eismitte
Commune
Nickname(s): The Coldest Town on Earth
Country	Greenland
Region	Erik the Red's Land
Foundation	July 1930
Government
• Mayor	Carl Friedrich Lindow
Elevation	3,010 m (9,875 ft)
Population (2020)
• Total	304

Eismitte ("Mid-Ice" in German) is a commune (kommune) in central Greenland. Administratively it is part of Erik the Red's Land. It had a population of 304 as of 2020. The only permanently inhabited settlement on the Greenland ice sheet, it is one of the coldest locations in the Northern Hemisphere and is the coldest permanently inhabited settlement in the world.

Climate

Most of Greenland's towns are along the unfrozen cost, but Eismitte is located 402 kilometers (250 mi) from the coast at an estimated altitude of 3,010 meters (9,875 feet). With a polar ice cap climate, It has an annual mean temperature of −30.0 °C (−22 °F), and the town recorded a temperature of −66.1 °C (−87.0 °F) on 9 January 1954, which made it the lowest temperature ever recorded in North America up until that time. The sun does not set between May 13 and July 30 each year, and does not rise between November 23 and January 20.

History

It was established as research camp by the Alfred Wegener expedition from July 1930 to August 1931. The Greenlandic government turned it into a permanent research facility, and so it was regularly manned by researchers since its creation in 1930. From 1934 to 1938, several permanent structures were established. Since the 1940s the research staff and the facility itself began to grow, eventually becoming large enough and always inhabited throughout the year to be considered a permanent settlement. In June 1967 it was designated as a commune by the government.

Transportation

A 4,572 by 60 m snow runway (15,000 by 197 ft) exists for ski-equipped aircraft to land outside the town. Air Greenland provides service from Danmarkshavn Airport.

See also

• Brønlundhus, another settlement in Erik the Red's Land, is also one of the coldest settlements in the world.