Last month, scientists set foot on a small island off the coast of Greenland, which they say is the northernmost point of land in the world, according to Reuters.
The island was discovered as a result of the retreat of moving (pack) ice.
The discovery came during a battle between the Arctic countries – the United States, Russia, Canada, Denmark and Norway – for control of the North Pole about 700 kilometers to the north and the surrounding seabed.
“We were not going to open a new island. We just went there to collect samples, ”said Morten Rush, a polar explorer and head of the Arctic Station in Greenland.
At first, scientists thought they arrived on Oodaak, an island discovered by a Danish group in 1978. However, later, when they checked the exact location, they realized that they had visited another island 780 meters to the northwest.
“Everyone was happy to find the island, which we thought was Oodaak. We were a bit like researchers from the past who thought they would come to a certain place, but ended up in a completely different place, ”said Christian Leister, a Swiss entrepreneur who founded the foundation that funded the expedition.
A small island about 30 meters in diameter and about three meters in height, it consists of silt from the seabed, as well as moraine – soil and stones left by moving glaciers. The team said it recommended naming Kekertak Avanarlek Island, which means “northernmost island” in Greenlandic.
Several American expeditions in the area in recent decades have searched for the northernmost island in the world. In 2007, researcher Dennis Schmidt found another candidate for the “title” – the West Island of Stray Dogs.