Ward Hunt Island is a small, uninhabited island in the
Arctic Ocean, located off the north coast of
Ellesmere Island near the
Ward Hunt Ice Shelf. The island is located just 750 km (470 mi) from the geographical
North Pole. The northern cape of Ward Hunt Island is one of the northernmost elements of land in Canada. Only a 17 km (11 mi) stretch of northern coast of
Ellesmere Island around
Cape Columbia is more northerly. The island is 5.0 km (3.1 mi) long, east to west, and 3.0 km (1.9 mi) wide. The first known sighting was in 1876 by
Pelham Aldrich, a lieutenant with the
George Nares expedition, and named for
George Ward Hunt, who was
First Lord of the Admiralty at the time (1874–1877). Today, the Island is part of the
Quttinirpaaq National Park.
History and research
Due to its location, the island has been used as the starting point for a number of attempts to reach the
North Pole, e.g.
Ralph Plaisted and others. During the
International Geophysical Year of 1957–58, it was briefly used as a meteorological station. In 1959 the
Canadian Defence Research Board established a research station on the island which remained in operation until the late 1960s. There is an airstrip for
STOL aircraft, primarily
Twin Otter, on the north coast of the island. Nearby are a few old shelters from the former Ward Hunt Island Camp station, now operated by
Parks Canada.
In July 1988, a team of
geodesists from the
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT Karlsruhe) and geographers from the
University of Giessen carried out an accurate geodetical and geomorphological survey of the island and the Ice Shelf. This enabled the compilation of the first topographic map at the scale 1: 25,000 and an additional geomorphological map (scale 1:12,500).
Since 1998, a modern research station owned and operated by the Centre d'Études Nordiques (CEN: Centre for northern studies) of
Laval University, Quebec and Parks Canada also exists on the north coast with an automatic climatic station open all year round.[2][3] In addition to accommodation, the CEN base camp also has a small laboratory for the multidisciplinary fieldwork carried out during the three summer months. The data obtained on the climate, flora and fauna cover a period of more than 20 years and have been accessible since the beginning of the measurements.
This region at the northern land limit of the Canadian Arctic is currently undergoing major environmental changes. On 29 July 2008, a giant chunk of ice broke away from the
Ward Hunt Ice Shelf. The new ice island had an area of 35.9 km2 (13.9 sq mi). It was the largest fracture of its kind since the nearby
Ayles Ice Shelf—which measured 66 km2 (25 sq mi)—broke away in 2005.[4]
^"CEN Ward Hunt Island Research Station". 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2022. The CEN Ward Hunt Island Research Station is co-owned and operated by the Centre d'études nordiques (CEN: Centre for Northern Studies; ...) and Parks Canada (...).