Ellesmere Island

From Free net encyclopedia

Image:Map indicating Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada.png Ellesmere Island (French: Île d'Ellesmere) lying in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the most northerly of the Canadian Arctic islands. It comprises an area of 196,235 km² (75,767 square miles), making it the world's tenth largest island and Canada's third largest island.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Population
4 References
5 External links

[edit]

History

The first inhabitants of Ellesmere Island were small bands of Inuit drawn to the area for caribou, muskox, and sea mammal hunting about 1000-2000 BCE. <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The first European to sight the island was William Baffin, in 1616, although it is possible that Vikings from the Greenland colonies reached the island during hunting expeditions. It was named in 1852 by Edward Inglefield's expedition after Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere. <ref name=canencyc>"Ellesmere Island" from "The Canadian Encyclopedia Online". URL accessed April 7, 2006.</ref> The American expedition led by Augustus Greely in 1881 crossed the island from east to west. <ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

[edit]

Geography

Image:EllesmereIsland.jpg

[edit]

Protected areas

More than one-fifth of the island is protected as Quttinirpaaq National Park, which includes seven fjords and a variety of glaciers. Barbeau Peak, the highest mountain in Nunavut (2,616 m) is located in the British Empire Range on Ellesmere Island. The most northern mountain range in the world, the United States Range is located in the northeast region of the island. The northern lobe of the island is called Grant Land.

[edit]

Glaciers and ice caps

Large portions of Ellesmere Island are covered with glaciers and ice, with Manson Icefield and Sydkap in the south; Prince of Wales Icefield and Agassiz Ice Cap along the central-east side of the island, along with substantial ice cover in Northern Ellesmere Island. Along the northwest coast of Ellesmere Island are some ice shelves, including the Ward Hunt ice shelf which experienced major breakup during summer 2002. <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

[edit]

Paleontology

In 2006, University of Chicago paleontologist Neil H. Shubin discovered the fossil of a 375-million-year-old fish, named Tiktaalik roseae, in the former stream beds of Ellesmere Island. The fossil exhibits many characteristics of fish, but also indicates a transitional creature that may be a predecessor of amphibians, reptiles and dinosaurs. <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

[edit]

Population

In 2001, the population of Ellesmere Island was recorded as 168. There are three settlements on Ellesmere Island including Alert, Eureka, and Grise Fiord. Politically, it is part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region.

Canadian Forces Station (CFS) Alert is the northernmost settlement in the world. With the end of the Cold War and the advent of new technologies allowing for remote interpretation of data, the overwintering population has been reduced to 50.

Eureka, which is the second northernmost settlement in the world, consists of three areas, the "airport" which includes "Fort Eureka" (the quarters for military personnel maintaining the island's communications equipment), the Environment Canada Weather Station and the Polar Environmental Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL), formally the Arctic Stratospheric Ozone (AStrO) Observatory.

[edit]