Coburg Island
Template: Infobox Island / Maintenance / image missing
Coburg Iceland ( Iceland also Cobourg, Inuktitut: Nirjutiqavvik ) is located in Baffin Bay at the entrance of Jones Sound between Ellesmere Iceland in the North Devon and Iceland to the south. It belongs to the Canadian territory of Nunavut, and is one of the Queen Elizabeth Islands. The 76th northern latitude cuts the island in the middle.
The island is 344 km ² and has between Phillips Point in the north and in the south of Cambridge Point a stretch of 38 km. Coburg Iceland is 6-23 km wide and reaches a height of 823 m above sea level. 65 % of the island is covered by glaciers. In a directed to the southeast peninsula is 10 km ² large circular Laika ice cap.
The average temperature at -28 ° C in February and 4 ° C in July.
In the sea area around Coburg Iceland there are two polynyas, the Lady- Ann- polynya south of the island in the Lady Ann Strait and the Northern Water (english North Water polynya ) in Baffin Bay. This almost always ice-free sea offers many animals have good living conditions. At Coburg Iceland brood over 300,000 seabirds, including mainly kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) and thick-billed murres (Uria lomvia respectively) and also eider ducks (Somateria mollissima), King Eider (Somateria spectabilis ), and long-tailed ducks ( Clangula hymenalis ). On the south-east of the island exposed rock Princess Charlotte Monument there is a colony of about 3,000 pairs of Eissturmvogels ( Fulmarus glacialis ). In the bays on the southern tip of the island can be found in the summer walrus, ringed seals and bearded seals. The Polynias be visited in winter by numerous whales, particularly white whales, narwhals and Greenland whales. Polar bears are often found here.
The island was probably discovered by John Ross during his expedition in 1818, in which he sought the Northwest Passage. It was named after the German Prince Leopold of Saxe -Coburg, who was Princess Charlotte, daughter of King George IV of the United Kingdom, married.
The island now belongs to Nirjutiqavvik National Wildlife Area. Cambridge Point is recognized by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area ( NU010 ).