Melville Island (Canada)

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Melville Island (75°30′N, 111°30′W) is a vast, uninhabited member of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Canada with an area of 42 149 km². It is the 33rd largest island in the world and Canada's 8th largest island. Melville Island is shared by the Northwest Territories, which is responsible for the western half of the island, and Nunavut, which is responsible for the eastern half. The mountains on Melville Island, some of the largest in the western Canadian Arctic, reach heights of one kilometre.

The island has little or no vegetation. Where continuous vegetation occurs, it usually consists of hummocks of mosses, lichens, grasses, and sedges. The only woody species, the dwarf willow, grows as a dense twisted mat crawling along the ground. However, a diverse animal population exists: Polar Bear, Peary Caribou, musk ox, Northern Collared Lemming, Arctic Wolf, Arctic Fox, Arctic Hare, and Ermine (Stoat) are common. A 2003 sighting of a Grizzly Bear and grizzly tracks by an expedition from the University of Alberta represents the most northerly report of grizzly bears ever recorded.

Melville Island was first visited by the British explorer Sir William Parry in 1819. Not only did he discover the island, but he was forced to spend the winter at what is now called "Winter Harbour", until August 1, 1820 owing to freeze-up of the sea. The island is named for Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville who was First Sea Lord at the time.

Melville has surfaced as a candidate for natural gas deposits. The first Canadian Arctic island exploratory well was spudded in 1961 at Winter Harbour. It drilled Lower Paleozoic strata to a total depth of 3,823 meters. In the 1970s, the northern portion of the island along the Sabine Peninsula proved to contain a major gas field.

Melville Island is one of two major breeding grounds for a small sea goose, the Western High Arctic Brant (or Gray Brant, Intermediate Brant or Grey-bellied Brent Goose). DNA analysis and field observations suggest that these birds may be distinct from other brant stocks. Numbering only 4-8,000 birds, this could be one of the rarest goose stocks in the world.

References

• Sea islands: Atlas of Canada; Natural Resources Canada

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