Understand
Kangerlussuaq began as an important stopover point for aircraft between North America and Europe during World War II. During the Cold War the airfield served as a U.S. early warning facility before being decommissioned in 1992.
Today, the airfield is one of the largest in Greenland and still serves as the main staging area for scientific personnel manning Greenland's many research facilities and base camps. An area to the east of town was the launch site for several sounding rockets used in upper atmospheric studies in the 1970s and 1980s. A radar facility used for ionospheric studies is operated by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Danish Meteorological Institute to the west of town at Kellyville.
The town itself is roughly be divided into two halves, the original settlement itself and the former military area on the opposite side of the airfield. With the closure of the military base many of the former barracks are slowly being converted for civilian use.
