Victoria Strait

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Victoria Strait
Satellite image, Victoria Strait is located in the lower right corner above Queen Maud Gulf
Satellite image, Victoria Strait is located in the lower right corner above Queen Maud Gulf
Connects waters Queen Maud Gulf
with water Larsen sound
Separates land mass Victoria Island
of land mass King William Island
Data
Geographical location 69 ° 31 ′  N , 100 ° 30 ′  W Coordinates: 69 ° 31 ′  N , 100 ° 30 ′  W
Victoria Strait (Nunavut)
Victoria Strait
length 140 km
Smallest width 70 km
Islands Royal Geographical Society Island , MacClintock Island , Admiralty Island

The Victoria Strait is a strait in the territory of Nunavut in northern Canada. It lies off the mainland in the Arctic Ocean and runs between Victoria Island in the west and King William Island in the east; both belong to the Canadian-Arctic archipelago . The strait connects Larsen Sound in the north with Queen Maud Gulf in the south .

The strait is about 140 km long and 70 to 100 km wide. There are few islands within the Victoria Strait. Albert Edward Bay , a bay on Victoria Island, opens to the west . In front of it is the Admiralty Island . At the southern exit of the strait are the Royal Geographical Society Islands .

The strait has several shallow spots with water depths of 10 m. It is heavily iced for most of the year. The ice floes reach Victoria Strait from the north via the McClintock Channel and Viscount Melville Sound . At the end of July, the ice sheet breaks in the strait. At the end of September the Victoria Strait begins to ice again.

At the entrance to Victoria Strait lies the point where the HMS Terror and HMS Erebus were trapped in ice and finally abandoned during the Franklin Expedition in 1848.

Due to the dangers of a passage, a longer route around King William Island was preferred. This route is easier, although it is shallower.

In 1967 an icebreaker , the John A. Macdonald , crossed Victoria Strait for the first time . In 1975 the icebreaker repeated the passage. The ice breakers CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent and CCGS JE Bernier followed in 1976 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Leonard H Legault, Donat Pharand: The Northwest Passage: Arctic Straits . Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1984, ISBN 90-247-2979-3 , p. 13.
  2. ^ Franklyn Griffiths: Politics of the Northwest Passage . McGill-Queen's Press, 1987, ISBN 0-7735-0613-6 , p. 31.