Talk:Ellesmere Island

Media

I think a section should be added on it's presence in the media. It's a major part of the book 'The Deception Point' by Dan Brown. I'm sure there is others. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.167.89.219 (talk)

• Speaking of books, Christopher Paolini uses the name as a cognate of sorts for a city in his trilogy--FullMetal (talk) 00:52, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

Maybe a section could be added about magnetic declination pole. Has anyone search the location of the pole during the time the Vikings explored America? I would think this might be an interesting location to search. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.75.98.22 (talk) 06:25, 16 September 2010 (UTC)

Post-Ruin Island

I do not know what this means. Google search for "Post-Ruin Island" shows duplicates of the wikipedia item. (Assuming Wp is the original source.) I suggest this phrase should be elucidated, linked or removed. Toronto, 416 423 0243 (talk) 13:34, 15 September 2013 (UTC)

Spelling

Changed spelling of Grise Fiord per official Canadian dual language geographic name listing:

http://geonames.nrcan.gc.ca/english/cgndb.html

-- Caltrop

Projection

Am I the only one who thinks that it's a spectacularly bad idea to use the Mercator projection for an island this far north? Psychonaut 00:08, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC)

No. I'd vote to upload a better map, but I don't know where to find one in the public domain. Thehappysmith 10:02, 26 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Ward Hunt

I've just written the article on Ward Hunt and am wondering... it seems highly questionable, but does anyone know where the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf and Ward Hunt Island got their names? Thehappysmith 10:02, 26 Jan 2005 (UTC)

first sighting

Is it politically (or even factually) correct to say that the island was first sighted by William Baffin? Surely the Inuit saw it first? Maybe we should say that Baffin was the first European to see the island? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 143.239.215.132 (talk)

Agreed... the History section of an article like this usually starts out with geological age, then the date and origins earliest human populations, as opposed to sighting by the first European. Does anyone know of a good source for this information? Cleduc 16:39, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

Northern Canada has some information, but no primary sources listed. Ideas? Cleduc 16:44, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

Here are some bibliography references:

• http://acsus.org/display.cfm?id=358&Sub=381

There are for the most part not available online, and probably not available at your local Chapters or Barnes & Noble, though. -Aude (talk | contribs) 17:20, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

Population

Are there still 168 people or has someone died yet? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jerdwyer (talk • contribs)

Geological history

Does anyone have a likely source for the geological history of the island -- when and how it formed? Cleduc 21:44, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Pictures

Ellesmere Island is absolutely beautiful. I think it would be nice if there were some pictures here instead of just maps Canking 23:18, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

I agree I mean there are things in the island arctic that are nice than anywhere else in the world. It may be like the frontier of Canada with huge mountains, glaciers, and tundra. User:Virtue accont June 2007

American Claims by Right of Discovery

It is my impression, based on reading materials from the period, that the American expeditions on Ellesmere Island gave the United States, if only for a time, precedence under international law in their right to hold sovereignty over the island. If this was ever true, when was it, and also where? Are there any good articles on the subject?CharlesRobertCountofNesselrode 11:01, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

United States Range

I don't think the United States Range is the northernmost mountain range on Earth. The United States Range is located (82°13′N 66°1′W), however there's another mountain range called the Challenger Mountains which appears to be northwest of the United States Range (82°33′N 74°33′W). Black Tusk 08:12, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

Semi-related: the article says Ellesmere contains the northernmost point of land in Canada. Isn't it also the northernmost point of land on earth? McGehee (talk) 04:18, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

No, Kaffeklubben Island is the notrhernmost point of land on earth. Also Cape Morris Jesup, the northern tip of mainland Greenland, reaches further north than Ellesmere Island.--Ratzer (talk) 17:18, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

Crocodiles millions of years ago

On 60 Minutes just now it was stated that crocodiles lived on Ellesmere Island millions of years ago, during a particularly warm period. Perhaps the article should go a bit further back to this period. Badagnani (talk) 00:12, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

I see Tiktaalik is already mentioned, but the climate at that time should also be mentioned in that passage. Badagnani (talk) 00:13, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

Arrival of Inuit

In the section "History of Ellesmere Island" it says that the first inhabitants of Ellesmere Island were small bands of Inuit drawn to the area for Peary Caribou, muskox, and marine mammal hunting about 1000-2000 BC. However, the Thule culture did not come out of Alaska until about 1000 CE. So is this anachronistic reference to Inuit actuall the Dorset, Saqqaq, Independance I or Endependance II cultures? I shall remove that reference to the Inuit and let somebody else put in place the proper peoples. Bytor (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 14:22, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

dorset = paleoeskimo?

"As was the case for the Dorset (or Palaeoeskimo) hunters and the pioneering Neoeskimos, "

The Dorset people were not a type of eskimo, they were displaced by the eskimo. The Dorset people were the aboriginal people of the NA artic and were displaced by the eskimo which came from Siberia.

According to Early Palaeo-Eskimo Culture (Précis, Chapter 21) the Palaeo-Eskimo were there before the Dorset. Also if you keep reading there is this sentence, "By the end of Period III a number of changes take place in Early Palaeo-Eskimo culture and initiate the Period IV Middle Palaeo-Eskimo culture referred to as Dorset." The timeline at Carlton University indicates the Palaeo-Eskimo came before the Dorset and from Siberia. Other reading Archeaeological Sites of Newfoundland and Labrador. CambridgeBayWeather Have a gorilla 23:33, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Category:Queen Elizabeth Islands vs. Category:Ellesmere Island

Category:Ellesmere Island is itself a category within Category:Queen Elizabeth Islands. — Robert Greer (talk) 03:40, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Is that not correct? I thought that Ellesmere was part of QE Islands. Enter CambridgeBayWeather, waits for audience applause, not a sausage 07:35, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Ah I see what you mean. Enter CambridgeBayWeather, waits for audience applause, not a sausage 07:47, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Infobox width and length

There are multiple entries for these fields: I don't know which one is appropriate so I have left them as they are, could someone more knowledgeable delete all but the correct version?Ordinary Person (talk) 04:32, 11 October 2012 (UTC)

Geographic features

It would be very helpful to explain the names of the geographic features on and around the island beyond the settlements. Many but not all are mentioned in Category:Ellesmere Island. This map is the closest I could find to what this article probably needs. This map also does a good job showing the extent of various types of ice. -- Beland (talk) 18:19, 2 October 2020 (UTC)

Expansion

I've been working on an expansion with the intention of bringing this article to Good Article status. It's incomplete, but I'm going to post some of my progress now as part of WP:The Core Contest. The layout may change around a bit but I'll try not to leave the article in a disorganized state. – Reidgreg (talk) 15:29, 30 May 2023 (UTC) Okay, I've done a bit and more than doubled the article's wordcount. This was mostly from rewriting the History and Climate sections, and making intros for Geology, Geography, Ecology, Settlements, and Transportation. Going to take a bit of a break but I fully intend to come back to this. – Reidgreg (talk) 01:51, 31 May 2023 (UTC)

Disputed historical temperatures

Regarding a series of reverts between myself and Gopher7923 over the low temperatures recorded by various expeditions in the northern interior of the island. Although cited to a reliable source, these were changed then removed. After double-checking the online source, I've restored the material and now tagged it with {{disputed inline}}.

Are the stated temperatures correct? I have no idea. I just know that the source has them as such and that our job is to summarize reliable sources. I welcome any clarification of the source or through other sources. What I don't feel we should be doing is applying original research to say that the source is mistaken. – Reidgreg (talk) 14:52, 13 December 2023 (UTC)

I think it should be removed because it is no verified by the WMO (World Meteorological Organization). The coldest verified temperature in Canada was -63 degrees Celsius or -81 degrees Fahrenheit at Snag in 1947. Besides this 1 source I could not find any other information regarding this temperature or even mentioning it as unconfirmed. The source seems reliable, but there is a bigger change that the book made an error with the units and meaning to say -70 degrees Fahrenheit, than the lowest temperature outside of antarctica being recorded there and nobody noticing or caring until 50 years later when it was mentioned in a book by someone who was not a meteorologist. This is especially true since another source says the coldest temperature ever in the Canadian high arctic was -69.6 degrees Fahrenheit (rounded to -70) in the same location on the same year. Gopher7923 (talk) 02:57, 14 December 2023 (UTC)

I agree 100%.It should be removed for this reason. Matti&Keti (talk) 09:29, 14 December 2023 (UTC)

@Gopher7923: Could you please link or otherwise detail your sources so I can verify the information you are presenting? Thanks. – Reidgreg (talk) 13:09, 14 December 2023 (UTC)

If you just search "coldest temperature in Canada", every result gives you -63 degrees Celsius or -81 degrees Fahrenheit at Snag in 1947, which is warmer than -70 degrees Celsius or -94 degrees Fahrenheit. This website (linked at the bottom) goes more in depth about that day and what the temperature was like. It also features an image showing the coldest temperature in each province and territory. It also mentions that the coldest temperature in the arctic islands was -69.2 degrees Fahrenheit at Lake Hazan in January 1958 (Same place and year as the claimed "-70 degrees Celsius") -69.2 and -70 are very similar and it is likely that the book meant -70 degrees Fahrenheit. Also, all our Wikipedia pages on extreme weather and temperature by region say the coldest temperature in Canada was at Snag in 1947.

Canada's Coldest Day - Canada's History (canadashistory.ca) Gopher7923 (talk) 20:30, 17 December 2023 (UTC)

@Gopher7923: Thank you very much for that! I've used this and added an explanatory footnote for the disparity in sources. – Reidgreg (talk) 15:01, 18 December 2023 (UTC)