Shannon Island ( da, Shannon Ø) is a large island in
Northeast Greenland National Park
Northeast Greenland National Park ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaanni nuna eqqissisimatitaq, da, Grønlands Nationalpark) is the world's largest national park and the 10th largest protected area (the only larger protected areas all consist mostly of sea). ...
in eastern
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is ...
, to the east of
Hochstetter Foreland, with an area of . It was named by
Douglas Charles Clavering on his 1823 expedition for the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...
frigate
HMS ''Shannon'', a 38 gun frigate on which he served as midshipman under Sir
Philip Broke
Sir Philip Bowes Vere Broke, 1st Baronet (; 9 September 1776 – 2 January 1841) was a distinguished officer in the British Royal Navy. During his lifetime, he was often referred to as "Broke of the ''Shannon''", a reference to his notable comm ...
.
The island is also home to many different types of animals such as polar bears, walruses, ravens, and oxen.
History
Most landmarks in the area were named by the Second German Polar Expedition under
Carl Koldewey
Carl Christian Koldewey (26 October 1837 – 17 May 1908) was a German Arctic explorer. He led both German North Polar Expeditions.
Life and career
Koldewey was the son of merchant Johann Christian Koldewey and his wife Wilhelmine Meyer. Koldewe ...
in 1869–70. Between October 1943 and June 1944, the German meteorological expedition ''Bassgeiger'' operated under difficult conditions at Kap Sussi on Shannon. Their ship ''Coburg'' was wrecked off Shannon. The station was discovered by hunters, but the crew was evacuated by air to Norway.
The island is the site of several hunter's cabins and is reputed to have especially favorable ice conditions.
Geography
Shannon Island is a coastal island, separated from
Hochstetter Foreland in the mainland by the
Shannon Sound, a 200 m deep sound of the
Greenland Sea
The Greenland Sea is a body of water that borders Greenland to the west, the Svalbard archipelago to the east, Fram Strait and the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Norwegian Sea and Iceland to the south. The Greenland Sea is often defined as ...
.
The islands that are located nearby are
Kuhn Island
Kuhn Island ( da, Kuhn Ø) is a coastal island in Hochstetter Bay, eastern Greenland. There are coal deposits on the island.
The island was discovered by the Second German North Polar Expedition (1869-1870) and is named after Franz Kuhn von Ku ...
to the southwest further inshore and the
Pendulum Islands about 12 km to the south.
Shannon Ø
/ref>
Image gallery
See also
*List of islands of Greenland
The following is an alphabetical list of the islands of Greenland. Many of these islands have both a Kalaallisut language name and a European language name.
Islands and archipelagoes
* Aaluik
* Aasiaat Archipelago
*Achton Friis Islands
* Agg ...
References
{{reflist
Uninhabited islands of Greenland