A team of explorers and scientists at the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) made an expedition north of Greenland in July, accidentally discovering a small island with the smallest location. North of the earth.

First, the discovery extends beyond the territory of Greenland, the autonomous region of Denmark.

Newly Arctic Island (Credit: Morton Rash)

“It was not our goal to find a new island,” he told the agency Reuters Morton Rash, director of the Arctic Research Station. The polar explorer explained that the purpose of the expedition was simply to collect samples from what they thought was the northernmost island in the world: Oda Doc. However, changes in the ice cover revealed that it was not only 780 meters north of the surveyed island, but also trampled on autonomous soils.

The new, as yet untitled island covers an area of ​​30 to 60 meters and is basically made of small gravel and mud (fine rock fragments) that can be thrown off the coast in a big storm. Rash considers island formation to be a “short-lived island” with a relief that varies in altitude from three to four meters above sea level.

Far north

In a press release issued by the University of Copenhagen, Morton Rash, who is also a professor in the Department of Geosciences and Natural Resources Management, explains that everyone was right about what happened on Oda Duck Island, the world’s northernmost island. But as soon as he posted photos and coordinates of the island on social media, “a lot of American island hunters panicked and said it would not be right.”

Landscape of the Arctic Oman Bay (Credit: Tetiana Dotsenko / Shutterstock)

These “island hunters” are the most sought after amateur adventurers Still unknown island forms, Began to respond very enthusiastically on social media, and Rash and his team decided to approach an expert at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). While waiting for the DTU, they noticed that the GPS was faulty and that they were already too far from the oda dock. “We have developed this area a little bit,” Rash joked.

Now, researchers are pressuring authorities to call the island they discovered “Quaker Tak Avanarlak”, meaning “Northern Island” in Greenland. Until she disappears in the next storm.