The M'Clure Strait (sometimes rendered McClure Strait) is a

strait A strait is a water body connecting two seas or water basins. The surface water is, for the most part, at the same elevation on both sides and flows through the strait in both directions, even though the topography generally constricts the ...

on the edge of the

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...

. It forms the northwestern end of the Parry Channel which extends east all the way to Baffin Bay and is thus a possible route for the

Northwest Passage The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea lane between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, near the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Arctic Archipelago of Canada. The eastern route along the Arctic ...

. The strait was named for Robert McClure, an Irish Arctic explorer serving in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

. He was the first man to traverse the North-West Passage (by boat and sledge). The strait connects the

Beaufort Sea The Beaufort Sea ( ; ) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Alaska, and west of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The sea is named after Sir Francis Beaufort, a Hydrography, hydrographer. T ...

in the west with Viscount Melville Sound in the east. It is bounded by

Prince Patrick Island A member of the Arctic Archipelago, Prince Patrick Island is the westernmost of the Queen Elizabeth Islands in the Northwest Territories of Canada, lying northwest of Melville Island (Northwest Territories and Nunavut), Melville Island. The area ...

, Eglinton Island and Melville Island on the north and Banks Island on the south. As the strait is chronically blocked with thick ice, it is usually impassable to ships; in 1969, the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

-registered tanker SS ''Manhattan'' was freed from the ice by a Canadian

icebreaker An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...

, and forced to travel through Canadian territorial waters to complete its westward passage. Ice prevented ''Manhattan'' from going through McClure Strait so the vessel sailed through the Prince of Wales Strait. There is a dispute between Canada and the United States over the waters of the Arctic Islands, other than those within of shore. The M'Clure Strait became fully open (ice-free) in early August 2007, and again in August 2008. The

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

reported that the

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

's Northwest Passage opened up fully sea ice free, clearing a lane through the northern section of the historically impassable route between Europe and Asia. At 15.33Z on August 29, 2012, the purpose-built ''Polar Bound'' under the command of David Scott Cowper with Jane Maufe as crew, was the first private yacht to pass through the strait. Shortly thereafter, the Hallberg-Rassy sailboat ''Belzebub II'', with three sailors aboard, became the first sailboat to travel the route. The M'Clure Strait lies within the M'Clure Rift which forms the western end of the Parry Submarine Rift Valley. It is considered an incipient

rift In geology, a rift is a linear zone where the lithosphere is being pulled apart and is an example of extensional tectonics. Typical rift features are a central linear downfaulted depression, called a graben, or more commonly a half-graben ...

zone because little extensional tectonism has taken place on it and no

oceanic crust Oceanic crust is the uppermost layer of the oceanic portion of the tectonic plates. It is composed of the upper oceanic crust, with pillow lavas and a dike complex, and the lower oceanic crust, composed of troctolite, gabbro and ultramaf ...

occurs in the middle of the strait.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:M'clure Strait Straits of the Northwest Territories Straits of the Arctic Ocean Parry Channel

See also

References