Sugar Loaf Bay

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Sugar Loaf Bay is a bay in northwestern Greenland, in the Upernavik Archipelago of the Avannaata municipality. It’s part of the northeastern Baffin Bay and gets its name from Sugar Loaf Island inside the bay (Greenlandic: Uummannaq), not from the nearby Uummannaq Island.

The bay lies between Qullikorsuit Island to the south and Nuussuaq Peninsula to the north, and it is about 22.5 km wide at its broadest point. It is up to 41.3 km long, where the Greenland ice sheet drains into it via the Cornell Glacier.

There are many islands and rocks in the bay. Amitsorsuaq Island is the largest and forms the southern boundary, with Nasaussaq Island separating the bay from the Nasaussap Saqqaa fjord. Ikermiorsuaq Island sits in the middle. In the northern part, a chain of islands runs parallel to the Nuussuaq coast: Inussulikassak, Paornarqortut, Itissaalik (the largest in the chain), Saarlia, Timilersua, and Sugar Loaf Island.

To the south, Kittorsaq Island and the northwest corner of Qullikorsuit Island mark the bay’s southern end at the mouth of Nuussuap Saqqaa Fjord. Nuussuaq Peninsula forms the northern limit. Tall nunataks—Anoritooq, Orsugissap Qaqqarsua, and Niaqornarsuaq—project into the bay.

Nuussuup Kangia in the northeast and Nasaussap Saqqaa Fjord in the southeast are major fjord inlets feeding the bay. The eastern side also has smaller indentations: Ieralassuit and Niaqornasuup Iterlaa. All the islands are uninhabited. Nuussuaq is the only settlement, located on the east side near the western tip of the peninsula. The bay serves as a sheltered inner waterway for local fishermen and hunters, offering protection from the open waters of Baffin Bay.