ATOW1996

ATOW1996 is a tiny island in the Arctic Ocean, which was considered until the discovery of RTOW2001 as northernmost land surface of the earth.

Location and size

ATOW1996 is located at the coordinates 83 ° 40 ' 34.8 "N and 30 ° 38' 38.6 " W. It is located about 25 kilometers east of Cape Morris Jesup, the northernmost point of the island of Greenland and about 10.0 kilometers west of the Kaffeklubben island. The small island has an area of ​​only 10 by 10 meters and extends about a meter out of the water.

Discovery and naming

The small island was discovered in 1996 by an American expedition, the American Top Of The World ( ATOW ) was called. The expedition members had, among other things, the intention to confirm the existence of the sandbar Oodaaq. Oodaaq was often referred to at the time as northernmost land area of ​​the earth. However, there was a lack of confirmation that Oodaaq not merely a fleeting - is sand bank - again in the sea setting. The expedition ATOW held the area found her first for Oodaaq. However, this proved to be a mistake. It turned out that it is up to that time unknown, only about 319 meters from Oodaaq distant land area. The members of the expedition named the island after the extended to the year abbreviation for the name of their expedition.

Status of ATOW1996 as land area

To be recognized as the land area is required to be permanently affected area - rises out of the water - even at high tide. ATOW1996 has a very small size, only about one meter rises from the water and has no rocky surface. Therefore, it was initially doubtful whether this post is to be regarded as a permanent collection from the sea or it is just a non-permanent sandbar.

However, led by John Jancik and Ken Zerbst expedition Return to the Top of the World ( RTOW ) in July 2001 - five years after the discovery - confirmed that ATOW1996 ( still ) exists and has a permanent character. This statement is valid since that date. Thus, the status of ATOW1996 as land area is widely recognized.

Status of ATOW1996 as northernmost land area of ​​the earth

ATOW1996 is about 71 meters further north than Oodaaq. In addition, since the status of ATOW1996 as land area is not seriously disputed, the tiny island today is generally considered northernmost land area of ​​the earth.

For the following reasons, however, it is conceivable that the mini island has to give this status to another land area:

Swell

83.676333333333 - 30.644055555556Koordinaten: 83 ° 41 'N, 30 ° 39 ' W

  • Island ( Arctic Ocean)
  • Uninhabited Island
  • Island ( Greenland)
  • Island (North America)
  • Northeast Greenland National Park
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