Good progress, though never quite got to Drastrup actual report and dog sled route, the first page of which should be online [Danish Dog-Sledge Expedition 1938-39] but is not due to a bungled/paywalled Polar Record web site by Cambridge Univ Press, see below.
Hmmm, the 1968 map of Spaltegletscher front looks very much like today's (ie is not suggestive of imminent calving). We've seen this before on West Greenland glaciers like Epiq, no retreat since WWII. However the USGS world glacier satellite atlas says:
In figure 43 the islands of Hovgaard Ø, Lambert Land, and Schnauder 0 can be seen in the central parts of the Landsat image. Lambert Land separates the Inland Ice outlet glaciers of Nioghalvfjerdsbræ and Zachariae Isstrøm just as Hovgaard Ø splits Nioghalvfjerdsbræ into a main stream that flows into Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden and a northern outlet glacier, Spaltegletscher, that flows into Dijmphna Sund.
Spaltegletscher is reported to have had a retreat of 18 km between 1907 and the 1950’s (Davies and Krinsley, 1962),and, in spite of the errors in determining the old frontal positions, a major recession of the outlet glaciers must have taken place during the first half of the 20th century in this part of Greenland.
Davies, W.E., and Krinsley, D.B., 1962, The recent regimen of the ice
cap margin in North Greenland, in Symposium of Obergurgl, Austria (10-18 September 1962): International Association of Scientific Hydrology, Publication No. 58, p. 119-130.
http://hydrologie.org/redbooks/a058/05813.pdf free full text!!!
"Named by Elmar Drastrup’s 1938–39 expedition for the numerous wide crevasses. Gustav Thostrup and Alfred Wegener were delayed by the crevasses when making the first traverse of the glacier in 1907."
That quote comes from Anthony K. Higgins:
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF DENMARK AND GREENLAND BULLETIN 21 · 2010
Exploration history and place names of northern East Greenland
http://www.geus.dk/publications/bull/nr21/nr21_p001-368.pdf"Two Danish [fur seal] hunters, Elmer [sic] Drastrup and Finn Christoffersen ..."
Drastrup, E. 1932: Blandt danske og norske Fangstmænd i Nordøst -
grønland, 132 pp. København: Gyldendalske Boghandel, Nor -
disk Forlag. [Among Danish and Norwegian Catch Men in Northeast Greenland]
Drastrup, E. 1945: Contributions to the geography of Ingolfs Fjord
and the interior of Kronprins Christians Land. Meddelelser om
Grønland 142(1), 28 pp.
Elmar Drastrup, 1909-1981, dansk polarrejsende og forfatter. Elmar Drastrup var fangstmand for Østgrønlandsk Fangstkompagni Nanok på Sandodden fangststation 1931-32, hvor han på en slædetur ved juletid fik voldsomme forfrysninger og måtte returnere til Danmark i sommeren 1932. I vinteren 1933-34 arbejdede han for Lauge Koch på stationen Eskimonæs. Sammen med fangstmanden Finn Kristoffersen foretog han Den Danske Hundeslædeekspedition 1938-39, der havde til opgave at finde en bedre slæderute til Peary Land. Ekspeditionen var finansieret af Scoresbysund Komiteen. Da den nåede Romer Sø på 81ºN, måtte den imidlertid vende om på grund af åbent vand samt unormalt stort snefald. Efter en rejse på 2350 km nåede de to mænd tilbage til udgangspunktet Sandodden i Young Sund (det nuværende Daneborg).
I 1944 var hans bopæl i Nyhavn, men i 1960'erne flyttede han til Mallorca, hvor han antagelig ligger begravet. Han var gift flere gange.
Hans forfatterskab omfatter: Blandt danske og norske Fangstmænd i Nordøstgrønland (1932), tysk udgave Grönlandjäger (1933), Fordi de udfører så store Bedrifter, (1935, omhandler de arktiske slædehunde), Nunatame – Nyt land – en grønlandsk Robinsonade (1943), Grønlandsfærd (1944, med 17 træsnit af Gitz-Johansen), Contributions to the Geography of Ingolfs Fjord and the Interior of Kronprins Christian Land (1945, Bind 142-1 i Medd. om Grønland), Med Pulk og Ski til Lapland (1945), Pelsjægerne (1946), Nanuaraq (1953, børnebog på grønlandsk), Nalagag (1946, børnebog), Polarnattens farer (1956), Med vind i sejlene (1960, om en tur over Atlanten i sejlbåd), Lille Nanok (1975, børnebog).
Elmar Drastrup, 1909-1981, Danish polar traveler and writer. Elmar Drastrup was trapper for East Greenland Fishing Company Nanok on Sandodden hunting station 1931-32, where he was on a sleigh ride at Christmas got violent frostbite and had to return to Denmark in the summer of 1932. In the winter of 1933-34, he worked for Lauge Koch at the station Eskimonæs. Along with catching the man Finn Kristoffersen, he conducted the Danish Dogsled Expedition 1938-39, which had the task of finding a better sled route to Peary Land. The expedition was funded by Scoresby Committee. When it reached the Roman Lake at 81ºN, may however turn back because of open water and abnormally high snowfall. After a journey of 2350 km, the two men back to square Sandodden in Young Sund (the current Daneborg).
In 1944 his home in Nyhavn, but
in 1960 he moved to Mallorca, where he presumably is buried. He was married several times.
There had been a previous expedition to NE Greenland led by Johan Peter Koch in 1913 —and in which Alfred Wegener had been a member— that had been named "Mørkefjord Expedition".
Recent Polar Literature Cambridge University Press
journals.cambridge.org/article_S0032247400042716
[
Danish Dog-Sledge Expedition 1938-39 to north-east Greenland; includes a survey of a new route to Peary Land.] This google search result does not lead to the indicated quote!
Map of Northeastern Greenland by Defense Mapping Agency Aerospace Center, a derivative work of txu-pclmaps-oclc-8322829_b_9.jpg, from the map collection of the Perry-Castañeda Library (PCL) of the University of Texas at Austin. 1:1,000,000 scale Operational Navigation Chart, Sheet B-9, 1st edition. Covers Greenland (Denmark). Lambert Conformal Conic Projection. Standard Parallels 73 20N and 78 40N. Central longitude 32 45W. Operational Navigation Chart B-9, 1st edition.jpg Created: 29 February 1968