World’s northernmost island discovered off Greenland coast
Tiny island exposed by shifting pack ice is the most northern known point of land.
A 30m-across piece of rock that has been exposed by shifting ice in the Arctic has become the world’s most northern known land mass, say scientists that discovered it.
“It was not our intention to discover a new island,” said Morten Rasch, head of the team that discovered it. “We just went there to collect samples.”
The Danish survey team thought they has arrived at Oodaaq, which was discovered in 1978, but when they checked their exact position they found the they were actually 780 metres further to the north-west than they thought.
Rene Forsberg, professor and head of geodynamics at Denmark’s National Space Institute said: “It meets the criteria of an island. This is currently the world’s northernmost land.” But he did qualify his statement: “These small island come and go.”
