&sq=Qlik&lang=&file=File:Canada_Nunavut_location_map-lambert_proj3.svg)  Seymour Island &sq=Qlik&lang=&file=File:Canada_location_map_2.svg) Seymour Island | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Northern Canada |
| Coordinates | 76°48′04″N 101°16′08″W / 76.80111°N 101.26889°W |
| Archipelago | Queen Elizabeth Islands Arctic Archipelago |
| Area | 2 km2 (0.77 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 28 m (92 ft) |
| Administration | |
Canada | |
| Territory | Nunavut |
| Region | Qikiqtaaluk |
| Demographics | |
| Population | Uninhabited |
Seymour Island is an uninhabited island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of northern Canada's territory of Nunavut. A member of the Berkeley Islands group, it is located approximately 30 mi (48 km) north of northern Bathurst Island. Between Seymour Island and Bathurst Island lies Helena Island. Penny Strait lies about 90 km (56 mi) to the east where open water polynyas occur.
It was first noted by Europeans during the search for Franklin's lost expedition around 1858 when passed in open water by an explorer's ship, who did not land. It then was described as "....a long, low reef, about 100 feet in elevation." It was named after one of the ship's crew members. The first recorded visit likely was during the Canadian Army's survey and mapping of the Arctic islands in the late 1940s. A metal "T-shaped" triangulation point survey marker then was installed on the island's highest point, now called Triangle Point. Sometime in the early 1970s, five unmarked, sealed 45 gallon drums of aviation fuel were cached near the point, possibly by an oil exploration company. They were never reclaimed. In the summer of 1973, Stewart D. Macdonald of the Canadian National Museum of Natural Sciences discovered the island was the first known permanent nesting colony of endangered ivory gulls in the New World.
Less than 3 by 1 km (1.86 by 0.62 mi), it rises approximately 28 m (92 ft) above sea level, and is approximately 2 km2 (0.77 sq mi) in size.[1] The island is characterized by raised beaches of shattered sandstone boulders and glacial erratics, coastal sand bars, gravel ridges, freshwater ponds and permafrost springs. A small piece of fossil coral occurs on the main ridge near the Triangle Point. Though polynyas form in the area, the island is commonly ice locked year round.[2] Snow melt occurs during June, with some snowcover on the northeast part of the island lasting into July. Freshwater ponds can begin to freeze over in late August. Summer weather often is foggy with temperatures just above freezing. Winter minimum temperature was recorded in the mid-1970s as −58 °C (−72 °F), and summer maximum as 10 °C (50 °F).
- ^ O'Briain, Michael; Austin Reed; Stewart D. Macdonald (December 1998). "Breeding, Moulting, and Site Fidelity of Brant (Branta bernicla) on Bathurst and Seymour Islands in the Canadian High Arctic" (PDF). Arctic. 51 (4): 352. doi:10.14430/arctic1078.
- ^ "NU Site 4 – Seymour Island". pwgsc.gc.ca. p. 45. Retrieved 25 August 2010.