Prince Charles Island

Prince Charles Iceland is a 9521 km ² (compared to Corsica 8680 km ² ) uninhabited island in Foxe Basin to the south and west of Baffin Island. It belongs politically to the territory of Nunavut, Canada.

Geography

The ovoid island is 130 km long, up to 94 km wide and has a circumference of 402 km. It is the largest island in Foxe Basin ranks among the largest islands in the earth 78th among the largest islands of Canada on the 19th place in. From the nearby Baffin Island it is separated by a 50 km wide channel.

The island surface is mostly flat or gently undulating, with a maximum elevation of 76 m in the western central area. The slightly higher ground west of the island consists mainly of rock and gravel plains, the East carrying a thin soil cover with extensive grasslands and salt marshes, interspersed with numerous ponds and pools. The sea around the island is frozen almost all year round. In summer, the ice floes pile up on the coasts.

The climate is arctic with an average maximum temperature of 5 ° C in July.

Flora and Fauna

The permafrost carries only low -growing tundra vegetation, which is dominated by sedges and other grasses and lichens and mosses.

On Prince Charles Iceland broods a significant number of waders. Six species were found, with a total of around 300,000 breeding pairs:

• Grey Plover ( Pluvialis squatarola )
• Hiking Plover ( Pluvialis dominica )
• Ruddy Turnstone ( Arenaria interpres )
• Sandy beach runners (Calidris pusilla )
• White-rumped beach runners (Calidris fuscicollis )
• Red Phalarope ( Phalaropus fulicaria ).

There are also other significant populations of, for example, the sea geese (Branta ) and Schwalbe gulls (Larus sabini ).

On mammals from coming: Polar bears (Ursus maritimus ), arctic foxes ( Alopex lagopus ) and lemmings ( Dicrostonyx torquatus ). Caribou herds migrate from the surrounding islands, especially of Baffin Island, a.

History

Although the island was the Inuit known for a long time, is regarded as the discoverer of the Canadian pilot Albert -Ernest Tomkinson, who during survey work with an Avro Lancaster of the Royal Canadian Air Force flew over 1948. The first scientific expedition under the leadership of the Canadian Arctic explorer Henry Thomas Manning reached Prince Charles Iceland a year later. The island is named after Prince Charles, who was born in the year of discovery.