Baffin Island (Qikiqtaaluk)
- Terra MODIS
- 27 June 2002
- 17:25 UTC
Spanning the Arctic Circle, Baffin Island (Qikiqtaaluk) is located in the northeastern regions of the Canadian Arctic lying south across the Davis Strait and Baffin Bay from Greenland and north from the entrance into Hudson Bay. The eastern end of the island is separated from the Ungava Peninsula of the Canadian mainland by the wide Hudson Strait. The western end of the island is separated from the mainland's Melville Peninsula by the narrow channel of the Fury and Hecla Strait. At 507,451 km² in area Baffin Island is the largest island of Canadian territory and the fifth largest island on Earth. The island forms part of the Nunavut Territory.
Baffin Island measures 1,610 km in length, ranging in width from 210 km to 720 km and has a highly varied topography. The western side of the island consists primarily of a low tundra terrain that lies on an ancient sedimentary basin. Hundreds of small lakes and several large lakes such as the 5,066 km² Lake Nettilling (frozen | ice-free) and the 3,115 km² Lake Amadjuak (frozen | ice-free) are also found in the region. The eastern side of the island is dominated by impressive mountain ranges formed by raised portions of the Canadian Shield — known as the Arctic Cordillera. Mountains in this area rise to a height of 2,156 m at the peak of Tête Blanche (the highest point on the island) and to 2,011 m on the Cumberland Peninsula at the flat-topped, twin cylindrical towers of Mount Asgard.
The coastline of Baffin Island is highly indented, particularly on the east and north. Large bays such as those of Frobisher Bay and Cumberland Sound are the largest and cut deeply into the southeast coast. The northern coastline, facing the waters of Baffin Bay, is punctured by numerous deep fjords creating a landscape of long peninsulas, headlands and narrow inlets. West of Bylot Island the nature of the coast begins to change; here the western end of the island comprises two great peninsulas: the highly conspicuous, flat-topped, plateau of the Brodeur Peninsula and the mountainous Borden Peninsula. The southern side of the island forms the northern boundary to the Foxe Basin. Here, the coast comprises coastal lowlands that receive the many small rivers flowing from the lake-studded plains of the island's western half.
Some 35,900 km² of the island's terrain is covered in permanent ice in the form of glaciers, ice fields and ice caps. The Penny Ice Cap (5,935 km² in extent) and the Barnes Ice Cap (5,960 km² in extent) are the largest ice caps on the island — they are both remnants of the Laurentide ice sheet that once covered much of the North American continent. Both are currently in a state of retreat.
Offshore from Baffin Island lie several thousand smaller islands, islets and emergent rocks. The larger of these include: Adams Island (267 km²), Air Force Island (1,720 km²), Big Island (803 km²), Bray Island (689 km²), Brevoort Island (271 km²), Bylot Island (11,067 km²), Foley Island (637 km²), Jens Munk Island (920 km²), Koch Island (458 km²), Loks Land (419 km²), Moodie Island (233 km²), Prince Charles Island (9,521 km²), Resolution Island (1,015 km²) and Sillem Island (482 km²).
image: MODIS rapid response project at nasa/goddard space flight center
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