Queen Elizabeth Islands

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File:Map indicating the Queen Elizabeth (or Parry) Islands, northern Canada.png
Queen Elizabeth Islands, northern Canada.
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  Nunavut
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  Northwest Territories
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  Quebec
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  Greenland

The Queen Elizabeth Islands (Template:Langx) are the northernmost cluster of islands in Canada's Arctic Archipelago, split between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories in Northern Canada. The Queen Elizabeth Islands contain approximately 14% of the global glacier and ice cap area (excluding the inland and shelf ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica).[1] The southern islands are called the Parry Islands or Parry Archipelago.Template:NoteTag

Geography

The islands, together Script error: No such module "convert".[2] in area, were renamed as a group after Elizabeth II on her coronation as Queen of Canada in 1953. The islands cover an area approximately the shape of a right triangle, bounded by the Nares Strait on the east, Parry Channel on the south and the Arctic Ocean to the north and west. Most are uninhabited although the Natural Resources Canada's Climate Change Geoscience Program Earth Sciences Sector (ESS), has monitors on the islands.[3] In 1969 Panarctic Oils, now part of Suncor Energy, began operating exploration oil wells in the Franklinian and Sverdrup basins and planned on establishing its resource base in the Queen Elizabeth Islands. It ceased production in the 1970s. At the 2013 GeoConvention the Arctic Islands region were called Canada's perpetual "last petroleum exploration frontier". Hogg and Enachescu argued that the development and implementation of advanced marine and land seismic technologies in Alaska, Northern Europe and Siberia could be modified for use in the Queen Elizabeth Islands.[4]

Queen Elizabeth Islands had not been fully charted until the British Northwest Passage expeditions and later Norwegian exploration of the 19th century.

These islands were known as the Parry Archipelago for over 130 years. They were first named after British Arctic explorer Sir William Parry, who sailed there in 1820, aboard the Hecla. Since the renaming of the archipelago in 1953, the term Parry Islands continued to be used for its southwestern part (less Ellesmere Island and the Sverdrup Islands). The regional break down of the archipelago is therefore as follows:

  • Ellesmere Island
  • Sverdrup Islands
  • Parry Islands

Ellesmere Island is the northernmost and by far the largest. The Sverdrup Islands are located west of Ellesmere Island and north of Norwegian Bay. The remaining islands further south and west, but north of the Parry Channel (Lancaster Sound, Viscount Melville Sound and M'Clure Strait), have been carrying the name Parry Islands, which name until 1953 had also included the Sverdrup Islands and Ellesmere Island. South of the Parry Channel are the remaining islands of the Arctic Archipelago.

The islands lay on top of and were formed by the movement of the Queen Elizabeth Islands Subplate.

Major islands

Many of the islands are among the largest in the world, the largest being Ellesmere Island. Other major islands include Amund Ringnes Island, Axel Heiberg Island, Bathurst Island, Borden Island, Cornwall Island, Cornwallis Island, Devon Island, Eglinton Island, Ellef Ringnes Island, Mackenzie King Island, Melville Island, and Prince Patrick Island.[2]

Smaller islands

Other smaller but notable islands include; Beechey Island (Script error: No such module "Coordinates".), which held the graves of Petty Officer John Torrington, Royal Marine Private William Braine, and Able Seaman John Hartnell, three members of Sir John Franklin's crew who took part in his lost expedition,[5][6] Hans Island (Script error: No such module "Coordinates".), a small, uninhabited barren knoll measuring Script error: No such module "convert". whose ownership was disputed by Canada and Denmark until 14 June 2022, when both countries agreed to split the disputed island roughly in half.,[7] the Cheyne Islands (Script error: No such module "Coordinates".), three small (Script error: No such module "convert". together) islands that are Important Bird Area (#NU049) and a Key Migratory Bird Terrestrial Habitat site (NU site 5)[8] and Skraeling Island (Script error: No such module "Coordinates".) an important archaeological site where Inuit (along with their ancestors the Dorset and Thule) and Norse artifacts have been found.[9] They consist of Silurian and Carboniferous rocks covered with tundra.

Population

With a population of less than 400, the islands are nearly uninhabited. There are only three permanently inhabited places in the islands. The two municipalities are the hamlets of Resolute (population 198 as of the 2016 census[10]), on Cornwallis Island, and Grise Fiord (population 129 as of the 2016 census[11]), on Ellesmere Island. Alert is a weather station staffed by Environment and Climate Change Canada, a Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) atmosphere monitoring laboratory on Ellesmere Island, and has several temporary inhabitants due to the co-located CFS Alert. Eureka, a small research base on Ellesmere Island, has a population of zero but at least eight staff on a continuous rotational basis.

  1. REDIRECT Template:Legend inline
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  3. REDIRECT Template:Legend inline
Name Image Type Island Population Established Coordinates Notes
Alert File:NOAA - Alert, Nunavut, Canada.jpg Weather station, Canadian Forces base (CFS Alert), airport (Alert Airport) Ellesmere 5 1950[Note 1]

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Alexandra Fiord Research station Ellesmere 0 1953

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Camp Hazen Warden station Ellesmere 0 1957

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Cape Columbia Depot   North Pole expedition depot Ellesmere 0 1909

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  • location for Robert Peary's northernmost depot of his final attempt to reach the North Pole
Cape Sheridan   North Pole expedition wintering site Ellesmere 0 1908

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  • location for Robert Peary's wintering site of his final attempt to reach the North Pole
  • 13.5 km ESE of Alert
Craig Harbour File:Craig Harbour 1926.jpg Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) detachment Ellesmere 0 1922

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Dundas Harbour File:Johnson Bay Settlement Dundas Harbour Qikiqtaaluk Nunuvut Canada.jpg Outpost, RCMP detachment Devon 0 1924

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  • Established in 1924 to create a government presence to curb foreign whaling and other activity in the area[13]
Eureka File:Downtown Eureka, Nunavut -e.jpg Weather station, research station, aerodrome (Eureka Aerodrome) Ellesmere 0 1947

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  • Founded in 1947 as part of a requirement to set up a network of Arctic weather stations
  • May have up to eight people on a rotating basis
Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station File:FMARS 2009 hab.jpg Research station Devon 0 1999

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  • The structures were built in 2000
Fort Conger File:Fort Conger, Grinnell Land, May 20, 1883.jpg Research station Ellesmere 0 1883

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  • Established in 1881 but abandoned several decades later
Grise Fiord File:Downtown Grise Fiord.jpg Hamlet, airport (Grise Fiord Airport) Ellesmere 129 1953 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Isachsen File:Isachsen-1974-bw-1b.jpg Weather station, research station Ellef Ringnes 0 1948 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
McGill Arctic Research Station Research station Axel Heiberg 0 1959 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Mould Bay File:Mould Bay Weather Station.jpg Weather station Prince Patrick 0 1948 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Resolute File:Resolute Bay 1 1997-08-02.jpg Hamlet, airport (Resolute Bay Airport) Cornwallis 229 1947

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  • Created as part of the High Arctic relocation
  • Most populous settlement in the Queen Elizabeth Islands
  • Second northernmost public community in Canada, only behind Grise Fiord
Tanquary Fiord File:Tanquary Fiord 15 1997-08-05.jpg Warden station Ellesmere 0 ??

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Ward Hunt Island File:Ward Hunt Island, Ice Shelf 01.jpg Warden station Ward Hunt Island 0 1960s?

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Formerly staffed stations were Mould Bay on Prince Patrick Island, Isachsen on Ellef Ringnes Island, and Fort Conger on Ellesmere Island.

Abandoned settlements are Dundas Harbour on Devon Island and Craig Harbour on Ellesmere Island.

Administration

Until 1999, the Queen Elizabeth Islands were part of the Baffin Region of the Northwest Territories.

With the creation of Nunavut in 1999 all islands and fractions of islands of the archipelago east of the 110th meridian west became part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region of the new territory, which was the major portion of the archipelago. The rest remained with the now-reduced Northwest Territories. Borden Island, Mackenzie King Island and Melville Island were divided between the two territories.

Prince Patrick Island, Eglinton Island and Emerald Island are the only notable islands that are now completely part of the Northwest Territories.

Below the level of the territory, there is the municipal level of administration. On that level, there are only two municipalities, Resolute and Grise Fiord, with an aggregate area of Script error: No such module "convert". (0.11 percent of the area of the Queen Elizabeth Islands), but with most of the population of the archipelago (327 in 2021). The remaining 99.89 percent are unincorporated area, with a census 2021 population of zero, albeit a fluctuating population centred in Alert and Eureka, Nunavut.

Overview of the islands

According to the Atlas of Canada there are 34 larger and 2,092 smaller islands in the archipelago.[2] With the exception of Ellesmere Island, they fall into two groups, the Sverdrup Islands and the Parry Islands:

Island sub-
group		 Territory Peak Height
m		 Height
ft		 Area
km2		 Area
sq mi		 Rank
Canada		 Rank
World		 Coordinates
Alexander[14] Template:HsParry NU average elevation align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 66   Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Amund Ringnes[15] Template:HsSverdrup NU ridge align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 25 111 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Axel Heiberg[16] Template:HsSverdrup NU Outlook Peak align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 7 32 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Baillie-Hamilton Island[17] Template:HsParry NU   align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 91   Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Bathurst[18] Template:HsParry NU Stokes Mountain align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 13 54 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Borden[19] Template:HsParry NU/NT   align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 30 170 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Brock[20] Template:HsParry NT   align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 58 383 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Buckingham Island[21] Template:HsParry NU Mount Windsor align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 137   Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Byam Martin[22] Template:HsParry NU   align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 42 294 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Cameron[23] Template:HsParry NU Mount Wilmot     align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 46 312 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Coburg Island[24] Template:HsParry NU   align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 83   Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Cornwall[25] Template:HsSverdrup NU McLeod Peak align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 31 184 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Cornwallis[26] Template:HsParry NU   align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 21 96 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Devon[27] Template:HsParry NU Devon Ice Cap align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 6 27 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Eglinton[28] Template:HsParry NT   align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 36 249 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Ellef Ringnes[29] Template:HsSverdrup NU Isachsen Dome align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 16 69 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Ellesmere[30] Template:Hs NU Barbeau Peak align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 3 10 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Emerald Isle[31] Template:HsParry NT   align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 63 466 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Graham[32] Template:HsSverdrup NU   align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 38 265 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Griffith Island[33] Template:HsParry NU       align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 110   Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Helena Island[34] Template:HsParry NU average in southern hills align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 85   Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Hoved Island[35] Template:HsParry NU       align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 125   Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Script error: No such module "sort".Île Vanier[36] Template:HsParry NU   align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 44 298 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
King Christian[37] Template:HsSverdrup NU King Christian Mountain align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 60 420 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Little Cornwallis Island[38] Template:HsParry NU       align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 75   Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Lougheed[39] Template:HsParry NU   align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 41 273 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Lowther Island[40] Template:HsParry NU raised beach align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 133   Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Mackenzie King[41] Template:HsParry NU/NT Castel Butte align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 26 115 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Massey[42] Template:HsParry NU   align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 71   Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Meighen[43] Template:HsSverdrup NU   align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 50 337 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Melville[44] Template:HsParry NU/NT   align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 8 33 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
North Kent[45] Template:HsParry NU   align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 62 453 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Prince Patrick[46] Template:HsParry NT   align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 14 55 Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
Stor Island[47] Template:HsSverdrup NU   align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". 87   Script error: No such module "Coordinates".
remaining 2,092 islands[2] NU/NT align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". ... ...
Queen Elizabeth[2]   NU/NT Barbeau Peak align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". align="right" Script error: No such module "convert". ... ... Script error: No such module "Coordinates".

Glaciers and ice caps

In 2000 it was estimated that the Queen Elizabeth Islands were covered by about Script error: No such module "convert". glaciers that represent c.14% of all glaciers and ice caps in the world.[1] According to a 2011 report, the surface mass balance of four, the Devon Ice Cap measured Script error: No such module "convert". (northwest sector only); the Meighen Ice Cap measured Script error: No such module "convert".; the Melville South Ice Cap measured Script error: No such module "convert". and the White Glacier, Axel Heiberg Island glacier was Script error: No such module "convert"..[1] The size of these glaciers has been measured since 1961 and their results published in such distinguished journals as the International Glaciological Society's Annals of Glaciology.[1][48][49]

Of the four ice caps that the federal government's NRCan's Climate Change Geoscience Program Earth Sciences Sector (ESS), monitors onsite in the Canadian High Arctic, three are in the Queen Elizabeth Islands: Devon, Meighen and Melville.[3] A 2013 Natural Resources Canada memo says that shrinking of the ice caps started in the late 1980s, and has accelerated rapidly since 2005. The increased melt rate was confirmed by University of California, Irvine in 2017.[50]

Computer analysis of a glacier inventory of Axel Heiberg Island was undertaken in the 1960s.[51] Later inventories of the World Glacier Monitoring Service under the direction of Fritz Müller, who worked on glacier inventories internationally, included the Axel Heiberg Island glacier.[52]

Other glaciers and ice caps in the Queen Elizabeth Islands include the Agassiz Ice Cap, Benedict Glacier, Disraeli Glacier, Eugenie Glacier, Gull Glacier, Parrish Glacier, Sven Hedin Glacier and the Turnabout Glacier.

See also

Notes

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References

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  1. ↑ a b c d Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ a b c d e Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ Researches for Sir John Franklin
  6. ↑ Franklin timeline Script error: No such module "webarchive".
  7. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ Cheyne Islands Script error: No such module "webarchive".
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  12. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  14. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". at oceandots.com
  15. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  16. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". at oceandots.com
  17. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  18. ↑ Bathurst Island at Bivouac.com
  19. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". at oceandots.com
  20. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". at oceandots.com
  21. ↑ Buckingham Island at the Atlas of Canada Script error: No such module "Unsubst".Template:Cbignore
  22. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". at oceandots.com
  23. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". at oceandots.com
  24. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". at oceandots.com
  25. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". at oceandots.com
  26. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". at oceandots.com
  27. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  28. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". at oceandots.com
  29. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". at oceandots.com
  30. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". at oceandots.com
  31. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". at oceandots.com
  32. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  33. ↑ Griffith Island at the Atlas of Canada Script error: No such module "Unsubst".Template:Cbignore
  34. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". at oceandots.com
  35. ↑ Hoved Island at the Atlas of Canada Script error: No such module "Unsubst".Template:Cbignore
  36. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". at oceandots.com
  37. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  38. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". at oceandots.com
  39. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". at oceandots.com
  40. ↑ Lowther Island at the Atlas of Canada Script error: No such module "Unsubst".Template:Cbignore
  41. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". at oceandots.com
  42. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". at oceandots.com
  43. ↑ Meighen Island at arctic.uoguelph.ca
  44. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". at oceandots.com
  45. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". at oceandots.com
  46. ↑ Prince Patrick Island at peakbagger.com
  47. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  48. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  49. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  50. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  51. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  52. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".

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  1. ↑ The weather station was established in 1950 and the military station was established in 1958

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External links

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  • Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". at oceandots.com
  • Script error: No such module "webarchive". at oceandots.com
  • Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". at oceandots.com

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