Lougheed Island is one of the uninhabited members of the

Queen Elizabeth Islands The Queen Elizabeth Islands (french: Îles de la Reine-Élisabeth; formerly Parry Islands or Parry Archipelago) are the northernmost cluster of islands in Canada's Arctic Archipelago, split between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories in Northe ...

of the

Arctic Archipelago The Arctic Archipelago, also known as the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, is an archipelago lying to the north of the Canadian continental mainland, excluding Greenland (an autonomous territory of Denmark). Situated in the northern extremity of No ...

in the

Qikiqtaaluk Region The Qikiqtaaluk Region, Qikiqtani Region (Inuktitut syllabics: ᕿᑭᖅᑖᓗᒃ ) or Baffin Region is the easternmost, northernmost, and southernmost administrative region of Nunavut, Canada. Qikiqtaaluk is the traditional Inuktitut name f ...

Nunavut Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the '' Nunavut Act'' and the '' Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act'' ...

. It measures in size. It is relatively isolated compared to other Canadian Arctic islands, and is located in the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...

, halfway between Ellef Ringnes Island to the northeast and Melville Island to the southwest. It is part of the

Findlay Group The Findlay Group is a group of islands in the Arctic Archipelago in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut. This Arctic Ocean group consists of Lougheed Island, Stupart Island, Edmund Walker Island, Grosvenor Island and Patterson Island. Mapping :A.Lou ...

History

The first known sighting of the island was in 1916 by Vilhjalmur Stefansson, during his Canadian Arctic Expedition. The island is named for Canadian businessperson and politician James Alexander Lougheed. On April 14, 1993,

Environment Canada Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC; french: Environnement et Changement climatique Canada),Environment and Climate Change Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of the Environment ...

revoked a permit issued to Panarctic Oils Ltd. to dispose of 400 tonnes of scrap metal in the ocean off Lougheed Island. The decision was taken in response to concerns expressed by residents of Grise Fiord, Resolute,

Arctic Bay Arctic Bay (Inuktitut syllabics: ᐃᒃᐱᐊᕐᔪᒃ, ''Ikpiarjuk'' "the pocket") is an Inuit hamlet located in the northern part of the Borden Peninsula on Baffin Island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. Arctic Bay is located in t ...

and Pond Inlet. Instead of disposing of the material at sea, a research project was initiated to evaluate the environmental impact of stockpiling scrap metal on Lougheed Island. In 1994, Larry Newitt of the

Geological Survey of Canada The Geological Survey of Canada (GSC; french: Commission géologique du Canada (CGC)) is a Canadian federal government agency responsible for performing geological surveys of the country, developing Canada's natural resources and protecting the e ...

and Charles Barton of the Australian Geological Survey Organization established a temporary magnetic observatory on Lougheed Island, close to the predicted position of the

North Magnetic Pole The north magnetic pole, also known as the magnetic north pole, is a point on the surface of Earth's Northern Hemisphere at which the planet's magnetic field points vertically downward (in other words, if a magnetic compass needle is allowed t ...

, in order to monitor short-term fluctuations of the

Earth's magnetic field Earth's magnetic field, also known as the geomagnetic field, is the magnetic field that extends from Earth's interior out into space, where it interacts with the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emanating from the Sun. The magneti ...

References

External links

Lougheed Island
in the

Atlas of Canada The Atlas of Canada (french: L'Atlas du Canada) is an online atlas published by Natural Resources Canada that has information on every city, town, village, and hamlet in Canada. It was originally a print atlas, with its first edition being publishe ...

- Toporama; Natural Resources Canada {{Authority control Islands of the Queen Elizabeth Islands Uninhabited islands of Qikiqtaaluk Region