In news– A group of researchers last month set foot on a tiny island off the coast of Greenland which they say is the world’s northernmost point of land.
About the new island-
- Measuring 60×30 metres and with a peak of three metres above sea level, it has now become the new northernmost piece of land on Earth.
- The group has suggested the discovery be named ‘Qeqertaq Avannarleq’, which means “the northernmost island” in Greenland dialect.
- Before this, Oodaaq was marked as the Earth’s northernmost terrain.
- Oodaaq was discovered by a Danish survey team in 1978.
- The new island is 780 metres northwest of Oodaaq.
- It is made up of seabed mud and moraine, i.e. soil, rock and other material left behind by moving glaciers, and has no vegetation.
- The new island, which was exposed by shifting pack ice, is, however, not a direct consequence of climate change.
- Over the decades, a number of expeditions have been searching for the world’s northernmost island.
- An island was found nearby in 2007 by Arctic veteran Dennis Schmitt.
Source: Indian Express
