Today Donald Trump confused Iceland for Greenland four times. What are your thoughts on this?
Robot
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Both are in pretty remote part of the globe at this time of the year.
In a previous life I flew that part of the word a few times. Shorter range airplane with refueling at Reykjavik, Iceland, then passing just a few miles south of Greenland on the way to someplace in Labrador. Just a dozen lights clustered at the south end of Greenland. The total darkness north of those lights easily confirmed that there were few if any humans up there until well beyond the other side of the north pole.
Either the US or Canadian Coast Guard kept a ship parked just south of Greenland. "Ocean Station Bravo", one of about 20 such ocean stations scattered around the globe. They provided navigation aids, and radio links, and an assortment of services. Always an upbeat voice from them. Radar scope showed the scattered icebergs, confirming the remoteness and weather very different from my comfort :)
Just discovered that there's a song about Ocean Station Bravo:
[media=https://youtu.be/33BE-Bhsxws]
In a previous life I flew that part of the word a few times. Shorter range airplane with refueling at Reykjavik, Iceland, then passing just a few miles south of Greenland on the way to someplace in Labrador. Just a dozen lights clustered at the south end of Greenland. The total darkness north of those lights easily confirmed that there were few if any humans up there until well beyond the other side of the north pole.
Either the US or Canadian Coast Guard kept a ship parked just south of Greenland. "Ocean Station Bravo", one of about 20 such ocean stations scattered around the globe. They provided navigation aids, and radio links, and an assortment of services. Always an upbeat voice from them. Radar scope showed the scattered icebergs, confirming the remoteness and weather very different from my comfort :)
Just discovered that there's a song about Ocean Station Bravo:
[media=https://youtu.be/33BE-Bhsxws]
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@Heartlander A few points, from an atlas:
Greenland's North coast is not much beyond 80ºNorth, quite a way in both angle and distance from the North Pole at 90ºN.
The population is over 50 000, not merely 12 households on the southern tip - and that is well over 1000 miles from the nearest bit of the USA.
You flew past the island's southern tip, at 60ºN. Roughly the same latitude as Fairbanks (Alaska), the Shetland Isles (UK) and Bergen (Norway), so well south of the Arctic Circle and even of Iceland's south coast.
So would its capital, Nuuk, have been visible from a small aeroplane at modest altitude? That is some distance North along the West coast that also holds most of Greenland's towns.
Greenland's North coast is not much beyond 80ºNorth, quite a way in both angle and distance from the North Pole at 90ºN.
The population is over 50 000, not merely 12 households on the southern tip - and that is well over 1000 miles from the nearest bit of the USA.
You flew past the island's southern tip, at 60ºN. Roughly the same latitude as Fairbanks (Alaska), the Shetland Isles (UK) and Bergen (Norway), so well south of the Arctic Circle and even of Iceland's south coast.
So would its capital, Nuuk, have been visible from a small aeroplane at modest altitude? That is some distance North along the West coast that also holds most of Greenland's towns.
@ArishMell
Those flights would have been in older C130s that lacked both center fuel tanks and those huge under wing pylons added to later models, resulting in a range that fell short of the width of the Atlantic; and typically cruised at around 25K feet. So cris-crossing the Atlantic was island hopping either through Iceland or the more comfortable route through Bermuda and the Azores.
Beyond the cluster of lights at the south end of Greenland there was darkness, suggesting few if any humans there braving the harsh climate. Like if I could see further, the next light to see might be beyond the pole and 10 degrees south on the other side. My experiences then were 50 years ago, so Greenland then would have likely had a population of 15K and Iceland more like 125K. Likely half of what's there now.
I've been to all the places you references, and they do share many of the issues. Go up the Norway coast and the population progressively thins out. Even Alaska, what would Alaska be like today if it was still part of Russia?
Those flights would have been in older C130s that lacked both center fuel tanks and those huge under wing pylons added to later models, resulting in a range that fell short of the width of the Atlantic; and typically cruised at around 25K feet. So cris-crossing the Atlantic was island hopping either through Iceland or the more comfortable route through Bermuda and the Azores.
Beyond the cluster of lights at the south end of Greenland there was darkness, suggesting few if any humans there braving the harsh climate. Like if I could see further, the next light to see might be beyond the pole and 10 degrees south on the other side. My experiences then were 50 years ago, so Greenland then would have likely had a population of 15K and Iceland more like 125K. Likely half of what's there now.
I've been to all the places you references, and they do share many of the issues. Go up the Norway coast and the population progressively thins out. Even Alaska, what would Alaska be like today if it was still part of Russia?
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@Heartlander Thankyou for clarifying it.
I think Alaska might actually not be unlike it is now, thanks to its minerals. The corresponding land on the Russian side of the Bering Strait is very sparsely populated due to its remoteness, but perhaps it has no worthwhile minerals, so far known anyway.
My atlas shows two or three coastal towns, but Google Earth seems to deny more than one, and that looks minerals or military. There might be a few abandoned Cold War installations still in place, perhaps some indigenous settlements.
Apparently Russia does want to develop that region of NE Siberia, but I say so cautiously because my source for that is a very strange one. It is the 'Interbering' website for a proposed railway tunnel under the Strait, the brain-storm of a Russian born and educated businessman based in Alaska. The technical aspects contain simple but major flaws, and his financial and political cases are not very credible either!
The Alaskan coast of the Bering Strait side has Wales, Tin City and York. Wales and Tin City are still active (presumably mining),York looks a long abandoned ruin. I noticed how many settlements there in the State, aprat from Fairbanks of course, though most seem small and perhaps based on mining or oil.
Unfortunately the images for this whole region are of fairly low definition, and won't magnify much without going out of focus. Google Earth's Streetview includes Fairbanks but not the other places.
I think Alaska might actually not be unlike it is now, thanks to its minerals. The corresponding land on the Russian side of the Bering Strait is very sparsely populated due to its remoteness, but perhaps it has no worthwhile minerals, so far known anyway.
My atlas shows two or three coastal towns, but Google Earth seems to deny more than one, and that looks minerals or military. There might be a few abandoned Cold War installations still in place, perhaps some indigenous settlements.
Apparently Russia does want to develop that region of NE Siberia, but I say so cautiously because my source for that is a very strange one. It is the 'Interbering' website for a proposed railway tunnel under the Strait, the brain-storm of a Russian born and educated businessman based in Alaska. The technical aspects contain simple but major flaws, and his financial and political cases are not very credible either!
The Alaskan coast of the Bering Strait side has Wales, Tin City and York. Wales and Tin City are still active (presumably mining),York looks a long abandoned ruin. I noticed how many settlements there in the State, aprat from Fairbanks of course, though most seem small and perhaps based on mining or oil.
Unfortunately the images for this whole region are of fairly low definition, and won't magnify much without going out of focus. Google Earth's Streetview includes Fairbanks but not the other places.
@ArishMell I had similar issues crossing the Pacific and I was in hope of doing so via refueling at one of those remote posts along the Aleutian chain, but that never came to pass. So always took the warmer paths via the handful of remote islands of the more southern Pacific. Islands like Wake, Johnson, Midway, etc. that even then were bypassed by Pan-Am Clippers and practically everyone else, and where the population had shrunk to just a handful of caretakers, yet enough to set a strategic marker for who the island belonged to :)
That brings to mind the question of what makes a place remote. I guess that's also about its usefulness and who wants it, and who doesn't want to give it up. Alaska probably has twice the population of Iceland, but maybe Iceland likes it that way. Meanwhile, Greenland may hold similar riches as Alaska, maybe enough to make every Danish citizen a millionaire. Do very many Greenlanders ever venture beyond a hundred miles north of that small cluster of lights? Seems to me that the bulk of Greenland beyond that cluster of lights can be sold or leased and it would be a win-win-win arrangement.
That brings to mind the question of what makes a place remote. I guess that's also about its usefulness and who wants it, and who doesn't want to give it up. Alaska probably has twice the population of Iceland, but maybe Iceland likes it that way. Meanwhile, Greenland may hold similar riches as Alaska, maybe enough to make every Danish citizen a millionaire. Do very many Greenlanders ever venture beyond a hundred miles north of that small cluster of lights? Seems to me that the bulk of Greenland beyond that cluster of lights can be sold or leased and it would be a win-win-win arrangement.