Ellesmere Island facts for kids

Location of Ellesmere Island

Satellite image of Ellesmere Island

The Osborn Range in the Arctic Cordillera

Ellesmere Island is a very large island in the far north of Canada. It is part of the Nunavut territory, which is a big area in Canada's Arctic. This island is also part of a group of islands called the Queen Elizabeth Islands.

Ellesmere Island is huge! It's the tenth largest island in the world and the third largest in Canada. Its area is about 196,235 square kilometers (75,767 square miles). The northernmost point of land in Canada, called Cape Columbia, is found on Ellesmere Island.

Much of Ellesmere Island is covered by mountains. These mountains are part of the Arctic Cordillera system. This makes Ellesmere Island the most mountainous island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Because it's so cold and harsh, the only plant that grows like a tree or bush there is the Arctic willow.

Life on Ellesmere Island

Not many people live on Ellesmere Island. In 2001, only 168 people called it home. There are three main places where people live:

• Alert
• Eureka
• Grise Fiord

Alert: The Northernmost Settlement

Canadian Forces Station (CFS) Alert is a special place on Ellesmere Island. It is the northernmost settlement in the entire world! This means it's closer to the North Pole than any other place where people live permanently. It's mainly a military and weather station.

Images for kids

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  Topography of Ellesmere Island

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  Glaciers of southeastern Ellesmere Island. June 6, 1975

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  Ward Hunt Island (foreground), Ward Hunt Ice Shelf and northern Ellesmere Island (left), July 1988

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  The overhanging icefront of Webber Glacier with waterfalls. Debris rich layers of the ground moraine are sheared and folded into the ice of the advancing polar glacier. The glacier front is 6 km broad and up to 40 m high. Borup Fiord, Grant Land, Ellesmere Island, July 20, 1978

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  Aerial view of Eureka, Ellesmere Island. June 26, 1988

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  Monument to the first Inuit settlers relocated to Grise Fiord in 1952–55. This was during Canada's controversial High Arctic relocation program.

See also

In Spanish: Isla de Ellesmere para niños