Shannon Island

Shannon Island
Shannon Ø
Shannon Island
Geography
Location East-Greenland
Coordinates 75°10′N 18°20′W / 75.167°N 18.333°W / 75.167; -18.333Coordinates: 75°10′N 18°20′W / 75.167°N 18.333°W / 75.167; -18.333
Area 1,258.5 km2 (485.9 sq mi)[1]
Highest elevation 305 m (1,001 ft)
Highest point Meyerstein Bjerg
Administration
Greenland
Zone NE Greenland National Park
Demographics
Population 0

Shannon Island (Danish: Shannon Ø) is a large island in Northeast Greenland National Park in eastern Greenland, to the east of Hochstetter Foreland, with an area of 1,466 km2 (566 sq mi). It was named by Douglas Charles Clavering on his 1823 expedition for the Royal Navy frigate HMS Shannon, a 38 gun frigate on which he served as midshipman under Sir Philip Broke.

The island is also home to many different type of animals such as polar bears, walruses, ravens, and oxen.

History

Most landmarks in the area were named by the Second German Polar Expedition under Carl Koldewey in 1869-70. Between October 1943 and June 1944, the German meteorological expedition Bassgeiger operated under difficult conditions at Kap Sussi on Shannon. Their ship Coburg was wrecked off Shannon. The station was discovered by hunters, but the crew was evacuated by air to Norway.

The island is the site of several hunter's cabins and is reputed to have especially favorable ice conditions.

Geography

Shannon Island is a coastal island, separated from the mainland by a 200 m deep sound of the Greenland Sea. The islands that are located nearby are Kuhn Island to the southwest further inshore and the Pendulum Islands about 12 km to the south.[2]

1870 map of the Northern Portion of Eastern Greenland showing coastal islands.
Map of Northeastern Greenland.

See also

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/17/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.