Seymour Island (Nunavut)
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Northern Canada |
| Coordinates | 76°48′04″N 101°16′08″W / 76.801°N 101.269°WCoordinates: 76°48′04″N 101°16′08″W / 76.801°N 101.269°W |
| Archipelago |
Queen Elizabeth Islands Canadian Arctic Archipelago |
| Area | 2 km2 (0.77 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 28 m (92 ft) |
| Administration | |
|
Canada
|
|
| Territory | Nunavut |
| Region | Qikiqtaaluk |
| Demographics | |
| Population | Uninhabited |
Seymour Island is an uninhabited island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of northern Canada's territory of Nunavut. A member of the Berkeley Islands group, it is located approximately 30 mi (48 km) north of northern Bathurst Island. Between Seymour Island and Bathurst Island lies Helena Island. Penny Strait lies about 90 km to the east where open water polynias occur.
Less than 3 km (1.9 mi) long, it rises approximately 28 m (92 ft) above sea level, and is approximately 2 km2 (0.77 sq mi) in size. The island is characterized by raised beaches of shattered sandstone boulders and glacial erratics, coastal sand bars, gravel ridges, freshwater ponds and permafrost springs. A small piece of fossil coral occurs on the main ridge near the highest point. Though polynyas form in the area, the island is commonly ice locked year round. Snow melt occurs during June, with some snowcover on the northeast part of the island lasting into July. Freshwater ponds can begin to freeze over in late August. Summer weather often is foggy with temperatures just above freezing. Winter minimum temperature was recorded in the mid 1970's as -58C, and summer maximum as +10.
Vegetation is sparse, consisting primarily of mosses and lichens.
The island is frequented by polar bear, and less commonly, the Arctic wolf and Arctic fox.
Birds include brant goose, snowy owl, parasitic jaeger, long-tailed jaeger, pomarine jaeger, and common raven.Thayer's gull and glaucous gull are to be found here also, but the island is most notable for ivory gull, found on Seymour Island from May to September. The gulls of Seymour Island breed on raised beaches unlike other Canadian ivory gull colonies. The island supports Canada’s largest known ivory gulls breeding colony, approximately 10-12 percent of the known Canadian population. In 2005, Gilchrist and Mallory postulated that Seymour Island gulls may represent forty percent of the surviving Canadian population of this species. The Seymour Island population represents approximately one percent of the world population of ivory gulls.
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