Griffith Island (Nunavut)

For other uses, see Griffith Island (disambiguation).

Griffith Island
Griffith Island is located in Nunavut
Griffith Island
Griffith Island
Griffith Island is located in Canada
Griffith Island
Griffith Island
Geography
LocationNorthern Canada
Coordinates74°35′N 095°30′W / 74.583°N 95.500°W / 74.583; -95.500 (Griffith Island)
ArchipelagoQueen Elizabeth Islands
Arctic Archipelago
Area189 km2 (73 sq mi)
Administration
Canada
TerritoryNunavut
Demographics
PopulationUninhabited

Griffith Island lies within the Arctic Archipelago in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of northern Canada's territory of Nunavut. It is one of the mid-channel islands in the western sector of Barrow Strait.[1]

Griffith Island lies directly across from the Inuit hamlet Resolute on Cornwallis Island, separated by the 6.5 mi (10.5 km) wide Resolute Passage.[2]

Captain Horatio Austin, on board the ship Resolute and seeking the lost Sir John Franklin expedition, wintered off Griffith Island in 1851. Explorations that winter by second master, George F. McDougall, included McDougall Sound, the waterway to the north of Griffith Island.[3]

Griffith Island is 18 by 11 km (11.2 by 6.8 mi),[4] and 189 km2 (73 sq mi) in area.[5]

Since 1958, the southeast coast of Griffith Island has experienced uncommon change, from discontinuous flying spits to continuous fringing barriers.[6]

On April 25, 2021, a Great Slave Helicopters owned helicopter that was surveying polar bear populations crashed on Griffith Island, killing all three on board.[7]

  1. ^ Bourne, Charles B. (1963). Canadian Yearbook of International Law. Vancouver: Publication Centre, University of British Columbia. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-7748-0127-0. OCLC 2442067.
  2. ^ Pharand, Donat; Legault, L.H. (1984). The Northwest Passage: Arctic Straits. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. 7. ISBN 90-247-2979-3.
  3. ^ Bray, E. F. d., & Barr, W. (1992). A Frenchman in search of Franklin: de Bray's Arctic journal, 1852-1854. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. pp. 48–50. ISBN 0-8020-2813-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ "Griffith Island". The Columbia Gazetteer of North America. 2000. Retrieved 2008-04-29.
  5. ^ "Queen Elizabeth Islands". nrcan.gc.ca. 2008-03-19. Archived from the original on 2013-01-22. Retrieved 2008-04-29.
  6. ^ St. Hilaire, D.; Bell, T.; Forbes, D.L.; Taylor, R.B. (December 11–14, 2007). "Arctic coastal dynamics under changing relative sea-level and environmental forcing, Arctic Archipelago" (PDF). ArcticNet 2007 Annual Scientific Meeting. Collingwood, Ontario. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 25, 2013. Retrieved 2008-04-29.
  7. ^ 3 dead in helicopter crash near Resolute Bay, Nunavut