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。

極地迷航：格陵蘭

盡管“格陵蘭”的本意為“綠色土地”，實(shí)際上這里80%的土地都由冰雪覆蓋著。當(dāng)船行駛在北極圈浩瀚的海面上，穿行于巨大的冰川之間，仿佛時(shí)間停滯了，就這樣迷失在世界的盡頭。

Colourful houses make Greenland look more vibrant.彩色房屋使格陵蘭看起來(lái)不至于太單調(diào)。

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.

孤傲的冰與海

北歐的挪威是峽灣之鄉(xiāng)，其實(shí)，更北的格陵蘭，也是一個(gè)峽灣之島。環(huán)島沿岸40多個(gè)峽灣，其中不乏峽灣世界中的各種之最。游船駛出港口，岸上小鎮(zhèn)里五顏六色的小木屋漸漸遠(yuǎn)去。格陵蘭太需要色彩鮮艷的房屋了，否則，將到處一片雪白。每日從冰川崩裂下來(lái)的冰塊、冰山，成就了這里獨(dú)特的冰峽灣景觀，亦被列入世界自然遺產(chǎn)。

出港不久，峽灣上漂浮的冰山、冰塊仿佛神兵天降，忽然出現(xiàn)眼前。四周除了海，就是冰，小的冰塊，大的冰山，依次從眼前掠過(guò)。行駛到冰峽灣深處，船長(zhǎng)關(guān)掉馬達(dá)，周圍忽然安靜下來(lái)，你仿佛能聽(tīng)到海鳥(niǎo)扇動(dòng)翅膀的聲音，聽(tīng)到冰川吸收海水發(fā)出的鶯鶯細(xì)語(yǔ)。巨大的冰山，在陽(yáng)光下閃爍著磷光，冷艷而美麗。

格陵蘭島的冰塊內(nèi)含有大量汽泡，放入水中，會(huì)發(fā)出持續(xù)的爆裂聲，是一種非常好的冷飲劑。人們將其稱為“萬(wàn)年冰”。這種冰既潔凈，純度又高，在嚴(yán)熱的夏日喝上一口“萬(wàn)年冰”是種難得的享受。格陵蘭盛產(chǎn)“萬(wàn)年冰”，冰層平均厚度為2300米，僅次于南極洲巨大的大陸冰川。

Spectacular glaciers.令人震撼的冰川奇觀。

A lovely Eskimo kid.可愛(ài)的愛(ài)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.

愛(ài)斯基摩人的防寒術(shù)

格陵蘭島居民有5萬(wàn)多人，平均近40平方公里才有一個(gè)人，是世界上除了南極洲以外人口密度最小的地方。大部分格陵蘭人是愛(ài)斯基摩人和歐洲人的混血。愛(ài)斯基摩人屬于黃種人，他們黑頭發(fā)，眼睛是深棕色，體形矮胖，面孔寬闊，十分適宜于島上的生活環(huán)境。愛(ài)斯基摩人傳統(tǒng)居住的房屋叫作冰屋，他們用大塊的冰砌成半圓形，房子還設(shè)有冰窗與擋雪墻。冰屋十分漂亮，但我們住一夜恐怕就會(huì)因寒冷而死。愛(ài)斯基摩人之所以可以長(zhǎng)年住在冰屋里，是因?yàn)樗麄冇幸环N特制的衣服——阿奴拉古。阿奴拉古風(fēng)吹不透，雨打不濕。穿著它在零下幾十度的冰天雪地里睡覺(jué)也安然無(wú)恙。為了有足夠的熱量抵御嚴(yán)寒，愛(ài)斯基摩人吃生肉，他們將獵取到的動(dòng)物，諸如羊、鹿、海豹、狐貍、鯨魚(yú)、北極熊等剝皮后生吃，捕撈到的鰭魚(yú)、蝦、格陵蘭大比目魚(yú)和鮭魚(yú)等也被活生生地吞到肚子中去。主婦們不用為做飯耗費(fèi)精力而發(fā)愁，將節(jié)約出的時(shí)間用來(lái)制作阿奴拉古：她們先是將馴鹿皮用嘴咀嚼，一遍又一遍，嚼得越好越保暖，然后再縫制成衣服。不過(guò)，如今在格陵蘭，你想要看到最原生態(tài)的愛(ài)斯基摩人生活，幾乎不太可能了。丹麥政府的幫助使得愛(ài)斯基摩人在20年里，從原始社會(huì)飛躍進(jìn)入現(xiàn)代社會(huì)。這里1970年代還沒(méi)有電燈，而現(xiàn)在，現(xiàn)代化的電器應(yīng)有盡有。

Sledges are still a major means of transportation for Eskimos.雪橇依舊是愛(ài)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.在格陵蘭可以看到美麗的北極光。

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.

夢(mèng)幻北極光

格陵蘭島大部分地處北極圈內(nèi)，最北部一年有260天處于極晝與極夜之中。太陽(yáng)在夏季升上天空就不落下去，到了冬季落下去又不肯出來(lái)。在北半球，美國(guó)阿拉斯加，加拿大北部，格陵蘭，北歐五國(guó)，都很有可能看到北極光。除了要往北走外，還要遠(yuǎn)離城市的光污染。

極夜的景色十分美麗，星光閃爍，一輪明月高高掛在空中，沉沉夜色籠罩下的格陵蘭成為晶瑩剔透的銀色世界。茫茫夜空中，各種各樣的極光不斷變幻，有的如滾滾紅潮在翻滾，有的細(xì)如游絲，輕盈素淡，有的狀如彩帶，在舞蹈者的手中上下飄飛。炫目的極光使觀者心醉神馳，深深地感覺(jué)到自然創(chuàng)造的難以用人工超越的美。極光出現(xiàn)后在地球大氣層中投下巨大的能量，其巨大程度可以和世界各國(guó)電廠所產(chǎn)生的電容量總和相比。格陵蘭人正期冀著將極光的能量變成可以控制的電力，為格陵蘭人民造福。

Melting glaciers.正在融化的冰川。

A whale appearing from beneath the sea.露出海面的鯨魚(yú)。