Despite what you've heard about Santa Claus, the North Pole is in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. The only reason explorers could walk to it is because it used to be covered with ice most of the time. That raises the question of what landform is the closest to the pole, and the answer is a newly-discovered small island off the coast of Greenland. Once buried in ice, it was spotted last month by researchers who were collecting samples. They did not realize it was the world's northernmost island until they checked their latitude calculations later.
The small island, measuring roughly 30 metres (100ft) across and a peak of about 3 metres, consists of seabed mud as well as moraine – soil and rock left behind by moving glaciers. The team said they would recommend it is named “Qeqertaq Avannarleq”, which means “the northernmost island” in Greenlandic.
Several US expeditions in the area have in recent decades searched for the world’s northernmost island. In 2007, Arctic veteran Dennis Schmitt discovered a similar island close by.
The scientists said that although the new island was exposed by shifting pack ice, its appearance now was not a direct consequence of global warming, which has been shrinking Greenland’s ice sheet.
Say it with me now- “Qeqertaq Avannarleq.” Before officially declaring it an island, geographers must observe whether it stays above the surface at high tide. Read more about the discovery at The Guardian. -via Damn Interesting
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