Uunartoq Qeqertoq

Uunartoq Qeqertoq, Kalaallisut for "The Warming Island", is an island discovered in September 2005 by American explorer Dennis Schmitt off the east central coast of Greenland, 550 km (~340 mi) north of the Arctic circle. It was attached to the mainland of Liverpool Land by glacial ice even in 2002, when the ice shelves began retreating rapidly in this area, so that by 2005 it was no longer attached to mainland. Members of the scientific community believe this newly discovered island is a direct result of global warming.

] The island has three large peninsulas, and thus resembles the letter W, or more exactly the cyrillic letter Щ.

History

A map by Ernst Hofer in his book [http://worldcat.org/wcpa/ow/89e9717051aacde0.html Arctic Riviera, 1957] , shows Warming Island as an island back in the 1950s, with no connecting glacial ice. If the ice had then been present, Ernst Hofer would not have known that the island was an island, and would not have drawn it as such. Temperatures in Greenland had been up to 1 kelvin (2 F) warmer than present in the 1940s, making lack of ice in the area plausible. It remains unclear whether Hofer's map was an accurate depiction of the situation at the time.

Further reading

* Hansen, Kathryn. 2007. [http://worldcatlibraries.org/search?q=dennis+schmitt+arctic&qt=results_page TRENDS & INNOVATIONS - Ice Voted Off Warming Island - As the Climate Changes, New Real Estate Is Revealed, Such As Warming Island Off the Coast of Greenland. Explorers and Entrepreneurs Are Taking Advantage of the Situation and Offering Tours to the New Locales] . "Geotimes". 52, no. 7: 38.

Notes

External links

* [http://environment.independent.co.uk/climate_change/article2480994.ece The Independent: " An island made by global warming"] , 24 April 2007
* [http://landsat.usgs.gov/gallery/detail/441/ USGS Landsat Project: "Warming Island"] , comparison of satellite pictures between 1985 and 2005
* [http://www.warmingisland.org/ The Warming Island Project]