Stray Dog West (; ) is an island in

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

. It is a candidate for the northernmost island on Earth.

Toponymy

Probably named in reference to its relative geographic isolation; relative to its paucity of being featured in media, unlike similar islands, it is only occasionally appendaged as "Stray Dog West ''Island''". The name is also only borrowed, not directly translated to other languages.

History

Stray Dog West was discovered during a 2007 expedition led by Dennis Schmitt. The island is four meters above sea level, making it likely that rising oceans will eventually permanently submerge the island. The island was made of sediment with

gravel Gravel () is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gr ...

mud Mud (, or Middle Dutch) is loam, silt or clay mixed with water. Mud is usually formed after rainfall or near water sources. Ancient mud deposits hardened over geological time to form sedimentary rock such as shale or mudstone (generally cal ...

and

boulders In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...

. It was estimated in 2007 that the island had a landmass of 100 x 60m.

Territorial disputes

In 2007,

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

sent an icebreaker to the surrounding area in order to find data to attempt an extension of its maritime territory.

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

disagreed with Denmark's proposal and claimed that the ridge underneath the ocean came from Russia, making the Stray Dog West and other disputed islands Russian territory. It is also disputed over whether Stray Dog West counts as an island, as it is submerged at

high tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...

References

Uninhabited islands of Greenland {{Greenland-geo-stub

Toponymy

History

Territorial disputes

See also

References