Green Greenland Greenland does not immediately strike someone as an actual green land. Of course the

Green GreenlandGreenland does not immediately strike someone as an actual green land. Of course the truth is that most of Greenland is not green at all, but rather blue or due to the 3km thick layer of glaciers covering the large island (90% of Greenland is covered by ice, although it is melting rapidly, see: http://on.fb.me/15aTiJO) However, there are some green parts on Greenland. The Qinngua Valley in the south near Qassiarsuk contains the only natural forest of Greenland. Most trees at Qinngua Valley are Greenlandic mountain ash, gray-leaf willows, and downy birches, the latter two can grow up to 6-8m tall. So why is this the only spot on Greenland with a forest? The arctic summer is short but also very intense. Qinngua Valley has a mild climate due to its location near (45-50km) the sea. Summer temperatures are a mean 10 degrees. Since the valley is not oriented towards the big central glaciers the cold winds here are less evident. Therefore plants (more than 300 species) and trees are able to grow here. The name Qinngua translate as Paradise Valley, not strange to imagine.In 1930 the area became protected by law under Danish Colonial Administration. Since the 1950 there have been many government funded programs to start new plantations (of birch, spruce, pine) across southern Greenland. In 2005 actual timber was harvested from the Tasermiut Fiord. The grow rate of these trees is similar to that of other subarctic areas as Alaska and Norway.Due to its mild climate and possibilities for agriculture, the area around Qinngua Valley was also the first to be settled by the Norse in the AD 985. A ruin of a large Norse farm is located near the coast which some claim is Brattahlíð, the estate of Eric the Red, the founder of the first Norse settlement on Greenland. (Here you can see a NASA satellite image of Brattahlíð: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=5548) Brattahlíð was supposedly occupied for 500 years and became deserted is the 15th century. The abandonment was most likely due to the cooling of Greenland from the 1400s onwards, this period is also known as the Little Ice Age. The settlers were known to have stripped a great number of Greenland’s natural forests. Around 1200 Inuit tribes made their way to Greenland.–BOImage: Courtesy of Jørgen Kjær Jensen. Qinngua Valley with gray-leaf willow and fireweed.References:http://www.les-crises.fr/photos-du-groenland-vert/http://www.wondermondo.com/Countries/NA/Greenland/Kujalleq/Qinngua.htmhttp://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=5548http://bit.ly/1dPLIGl -- source link

More pics about