?The northernmost island in the world has suddenly disappeared, but why
Considered the most northerly island in the world, “ Qeqertaq Avannarleq ”, which means “northernmost island”, has simply disappeared. Scientists have wondered about the possible reasons for such fainting. Dispatched last summer to this cold region of the globe in search of answers, they managed to determine the cause of this phenomenon, exposed in The Conversation . And their conclusion is ultimately simpler than we might have expected.
The case of the "phantom islands" recounted over the last century
Since the 1930s, several islands have been spotted and then lost, thus taking on the status of "ghost islands". This was the case during an expedition launched over the Far North in 1931 . On board an airship, experts flew over the Barents Sea with the aim of detailing in depth existing geographical maps depicting the contours of this relatively deserted and little-known space (the part of the Arctic Ocean north of Russia and Norway).
Using a wide-angle camera, the scientific team at the time carefully filmed the area. By comparing the old surveys and their direct observations, they then realized that two islands were missing : Albert Edward Land and Harmsworth Land. Without looking for a specific physical reason for this, they (hastily) concluded that the previous cartographers must have succumbed to some hallucination.
The mystery finally revealed
Specialists from Switzerland, Greenland and Denmark therefore met in 2022 to lift the veil on the strange disappearances of these islands. Setting off to probe the northern subpolar lands using state-of-the-art laser equipment, the team then analyzed ice density and examined the frozen waters of the boreal world.
Thanks to their results, they have thus put an end to all the mystical suppositions supposed to explain this mystery. René Forsberg, a researcher at the Department of Space Research and Technology (DTU Space), recounts this finding in a Danish newspaper . " Our work unequivocally shows that all of these reported 'islands' are flat icebergs ."
These islands are therefore not really islands in the strict sense of the term. These icebergs, 20 to 30 meters thick , are formed of ice whose flattened top is covered with land and rocks uprooted during their brutal separation from the continents. After years of remaining partially emerged, they end up dwindling and being swallowed up by the waters . These fadings are therefore rather common phenomena, especially since climate change is precipitating global atmospheric and ocean temperatures on the rise.
Change of ownership for the northernmost island record
Now the northernmost island in the world is 707 km from the North Pole . Baptized Kaffeklubben in 1921, when it was discovered, this uninhabited land is, unlike the "ghost islands", an emerged area whose foundations rest on an earth's crust.
Source : websites