Prince Charles Island
| Prince Charles Island | ||
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| Waters | Foxe Basin | |
| Archipelago | Canadian Arctic Archipelago | |
| Geographical location | 67 ° 45 ′ N , 76 ° 0 ′ W | |
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| length | 130 km | |
| width | 94 km | |
| surface | 9 521 km² | |
| Highest elevation | 76 m | |
| Residents | uninhabited | |
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Prince Charles Island is a 9,521 km² (for comparison: Corsica 8680 km²), uninhabited island in the Foxe Basin south and west of Baffin Island . It belongs politically to the territory of Nunavut , Canada .
geography
The approximately oval island is 130 km long, up to 94 km wide and has a circumference of 402 km. It is the largest island in the Foxe Basin and ranks 78th among the largest islands in the world and 19th among the largest islands in Canada. It is separated from the nearby Baffin Island by a 50 km wide canal.
The island surface is mostly flat or gently undulating, with a highest elevation of 76 m in the western central area. The slightly higher west of the island consists mainly of rock and gravel plains, the east has a thin soil cover with extensive grassland and salt marshes, interspersed with numerous ponds and ponds. The sea around the island is frozen almost all year round. In summer, the ice floes pile up on the coast.
The climate is arctic with a maximum temperature averaging 5 ° C in July.
Flora and fauna
The permafrost carries only low-growing tundra vegetation that of sedges dominated and other grasses and lichens and mosses.
A significant number of waders breed on Prince Charles Island . Six species have been identified, with a total of around 300,000 breeding pairs:
- Lapwing Ringed Plover ( Pluvialis squatarola )
- Norway plover ( Pluvialis dominica )
- Turnstone ( Arenaria interpres )
- Sandpiper ( Calidris pusilla )
- White rump sandpipers ( Calidris fuscicollis )
- Thoroughbred ( Phalaropus fulicaria ).
There are also other significant populations of, for example, sea geese ( Branta ) and swallow gulls ( Larus sabini ).
The mammals include: polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ), arctic foxes ( Alopex lagopus ) and lemmings ( Dicrostonyx torquatus ). Herds of caribou migrate from the surrounding islands, especially Baffin Island.
history
Although the island was known to the Inuit for a long time, the discoverer is considered to be the Canadian pilot Albert-Ernest Tomkinson, who flew over it in 1948 while surveying with an Avro Lancaster of the Royal Canadian Air Force . The first scientific expedition led by the Canadian polar explorer Thomas Henry Manning reached Prince Charles Island a year later. The island is named after Prince Charles , who was born in the year it was discovered.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Atlas of Canada - Sea Islands ( Memento from October 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
- ^ UN System-Wide Earth Watch Web Site - Prince Charles
- ^ RIG Morrison: The Use of Remote Sensing to Evaluate Shorebird Habitats and Populations on Prince Charles Island, Foxe Basin, Canada . In: Arctic 50 (1), 1997, pp. 55-75
- ↑ Vitalis Pantenburg : New Land in the Arctic (PDF; 81 kB) . In: Polarforschung 21 (1), 1951, p. 33
- ↑ Michael T. Kaufmann: Thomas Manning, 86, Explorer Known as Lone Wolf of Arctic. The New York Times, November 25, 1998 [1]