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124-512: Produced by the northern coast of Ellesmere Island , the iceberg T-3 was a very large tabular iceberg . This 7 by 3 mile kidney-shaped iceberg was discovered near the North Pole by researchers studying the Arctic haze during the spring and summer. Although the thickness of the iceberg was 125 feet and it weighed over seven billion tons, it rose only ten feet above the surrounding ice packs and

248-437: A C-47 Skytrain , all of the equipment to outfit the 14 prefabricated buildings was transported to the newly discovered iceberg. Scientific operations restarted on 23 May 1961 and continued all the way into 11 May 1965. Resupply of ARLIS II during the first year was carried out by airdrops from large aircraft such as Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar and C-47 Skytrains, and also by the icebreaker USCGC Staten Island (WAGB-278) twice in

372-413: A boreal forest have been reported from Strathcona Fiord . In 2006, University of Chicago paleontologist Neil Shubin and Academy of Natural Sciences paleontologist Ted Daeschler reported the discovery of the fossil of a Paleozoic (ca. 375 Ma) fish, named Tiktaalik roseae , in the former stream beds of Ellesmere Island. The fossil exhibits many characteristics of fish, but also indicates

496-463: A transitional creature that may be a predecessor of amphibians , reptiles , birds, and mammals , including humans. In 2011, Jason P. Downs and co-authors described the sarcopterygian Laccognathus embryi from specimens collected from the same locality that Tiktaalik was found. The ecosystems of the High Arctic are considered to be young and underdeveloped, having only emerged since

620-641: A 4,000-foot (1,200 m) airstrip on the south side of the station. In the following year the Thule airstrip was used as a jump-off point for exploration and a supply point for construction of airstrips and weather stations on the Canadian side of the straits (Eureka, Resolute, and Isachsen). The first Air Transport Command aircraft landed on 9 September 1946. The Strategic Air Command East Reconnaissance Group (Project Nanook) flew B-17 mapping and photography missions from Thule's primitive facilities. In February 1947

744-673: A 42% loss in surface area. Schei and later Alfred Gabriel Nathorst described the Paleocene - Eocene (ca. 55 Ma) fossil forest in the Stenkul Fiord sediments. The Stenkul Fiord site represents a series of deltaic swamp and floodplain forests. The trees stood for at least 400 years. Individual stumps and stems of >1 m (>3 ft) diameter were abundant, and are identified as Metasequoia and possibly Glyptostrobus . Well preserved Pliocene peats containing abundant vertebrate and plant macrofossils characteristic of

868-502: A Norse trader in the region. The Norse artefacts date from c. 1250 to 1400 CE. Between 1400 and 1600 CE, the Little Ice Age developed and conditions for hunting became increasingly difficult, forcing the Thule to withdraw from Ellesmere and the other northern islands of the archipelago. The Thule who remained in northern Greenland became isolated, specialized at hunting a diminishing number of game animals, and lost

992-656: A direction center. An air defense control center was built at Pepperrell AFB. In the late 1940s the United States studied the possibility of establishing a major operating base in Greenland when it became clear that round trip flights of planes carrying atomic bombs between US or Canadian bases and European objectives were impractical. The shortest route from the US to the Soviet Union 's most important industrial areas

1116-636: A joint-service unified command under direct operational control of the Joint Chiefs of Staff . NEAC was the only component of USNEC. Neither the Army nor the Navy ever established component commands, however Army and Navy officers served on the staff of USNEC. Air Force officers served in dual positions on the staff of NEAC and on the staff of USNEC until USNEC was abolished on 1 September 1956. NEAC established its headquarters at Pepperrell AFB , Newfoundland and

1240-468: A massive calving in 1961–1962. Five large ice islands which resulted account for 79% of the calved material. It further decreased by 27% in thickness (13 m (43 ft)) between 1967 and 1999. A 1986 survey of Canadian ice shelves found that 48 km (19 sq mi) or 3.3 km (0.79 cu mi) of ice calved from the Milne and Ayles ice shelves between 1959 and 1974. The breakup of

1364-647: A need for mobility to follow the herds. There is evidence at Lake Hazen of a trade network c.  1500–1000 BCE , including soapstone lamps from Greenland and incised lance heads from cultures to the south. The Thule moved into the High Arctic at the time of a warming trend, c. 1000 CE. Their major population centre was the Smith Sound area (on both the Ellesmere and Greenland sides) due to its proximity to polynyas and its position on transportation routes. From settlements at Smith Sound,

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1488-458: A number of expeditions for the purpose of establishing radio and weather stations in northeastern Greenland, in the neighborhood of Scoresby Sound. Although manned, it would seem, by Norwegians and Danes, and led by a Dane, these weather stations were under German control and were operated for the purpose of assisting the German naval and military effort. A mixed British-Norwegian landing party seized

1612-663: A number of stations on Greenland to support radio, weather, and naval patrols as part of the Battle of the North Atlantic against German U-boats and the protection of Allied convoy traffic in the North Atlantic. In 1941, the United States established a series of northern airfields and weather stations across the Canadian Northwest Territories and Labrador with the approval of the Canadian government. The original mission of these airfields and stations

1736-606: A project in order to establish a weather station on one of the icebergs and conduct geophysical and oceanographic research. Joseph O. Fletcher , who was the Commanding Officer of a U.S. Air Force weather squadron stationed in the Arctic right after the World War II, was placed in charge of the entire project. In March 1952, Thule Air Base sent C-47 aircraft to T-3, and several research stations were installed on

1860-563: A refueling and staging base. Plans were made in 1952 to station anti-aircraft units at Thule for the protection of the base. The first Army anti-aircraft personnel arrived on 3 July 1953, with the main body of troops arriving on 27 August. The units deployed were the 549th AAA Gun Battalion (90mm), 428th AAA Battery (Light) (75mm), 429th AAA Battery (Light) (75mm), 177th AAA Operations Detachment, 357th Signal Radar Maintenance Unit, 128th Ordnance Artillery Repair Detachment, and 162nd Ordnance Integrated Fire Control Repair Detachment. In mid-1956,

1984-510: A second west coast base further north, at Sondrestrom or Bluie West Eight , began in September 1941. A third field was placed on the east coast almost directly across from BW-1 at Angmagssalik In addition, the United States obtained rights to build bases in Greenland. In July 1941, a task force of service troops arrived at Narsarsuaq . This site had been chosen as a major staging base between Labrador and Newfoundland. Work began at once on

2108-591: A site code-named Crystal II in the Northwest Territories. These airfields, along with airfields in Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland established several transport routes for which aircraft could be ferried to Great Britain from manufacturing plants in different locations in the United States to Prestwick Field in Scotland. By thus following the great circle course, long one of the goals of airmen,

2232-531: A supply of aviation gasoline, dismantled several radio stations, and took into custody a number of heavily armed Danish "hunters" found on the coast. This was in late August or early September 1940. A few weeks afterward the British intercepted another vessel off the coast of Greenland with about fifty Germans, some of them meteorologists, on board. All this activity at the top of the Western Hemisphere

2356-433: A temporary dock, and started work on the airfield. By the time the civilian construction force arrived they had finished grading one of the two runways and had a metal landing mat partly laid. Bluie West I was thus one of the earliest U.S. Army airfields, if not the first, to make actual use of Pierced Steel Planking (PSP) in runway construction, an important engineering development and one that afterwards contributed greatly to

2480-898: A variety of Air Control Wings in the early warning role in Newfoundland, Labrador and Baffin Island. NEAC RADAR stations were part of the complex of stations built throughout Canada under the Canada-United States Radar Extension Plan (known as the Pinetree Line ). In addition to the Pinetree stations located in Canada, three stations were built in Greenland. The Pinetree stations consisted of three direction centers and seven early warning stations. In Greenland, there were two early warning stations and

2604-673: Is Canada's northernmost and third largest island , and the tenth largest in the world. It comprises an area of 196,236 km (75,767 sq mi), slightly smaller than Great Britain , and the total length of the island is 830 km (520 mi). Lying within the Arctic Archipelago , Ellesmere Island is considered part of the Queen Elizabeth Islands . Cape Columbia at 83°06′41″N 069°57′13″W  /  83.11139°N 69.95361°W  / 83.11139; -69.95361  ( Cape Columbia )

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2728-404: Is believed that each of the pre-contact peoples who migrated through the High Arctic approached Ellesmere Island from the south and west. They were able to travel along Ellesmere's coasts or overland to Nares Strait, and some of them crossed the strait to populate Greenland. The archaeological record of past Arctic cultures is quite complete, as artefacts deteriorate very slowly. Items exposed to

2852-484: Is estimated that sometime after July 1983, the iceberg eventually worked its way to the outside of the Arctic ice pack, where it caught a southern current, drifted off into the Atlantic Ocean , and finally melted away. Ellesmere Island Ellesmere Island ( Inuktitut : ᐅᒥᖕᒪᒃ ᓄᓇ , romanized :  Umingmak Nuna , lit.   'land of muskoxen '; French : île d'Ellesmere )

2976-438: Is exceeded in this regard only by neighbouring Greenland , which extends about 60 km (37 mi) closer to the north pole. Ellesmere's northernmost point, Cape Columbia (at 83°06′41″N 69°57′13″W  /  83.11139°N 69.95361°W  / 83.11139; -69.95361  ( Cape Columbia ) ), is less than 800 km (500 mi) from the north pole, while its southern coasts at 77°N are well within

3100-750: Is located in the British Empire Range on Ellesmere Island. The most northern mountain range in the world, the Challenger Mountains , is located in the northeast region of the island. The northern lobe of the island is called Grant Land . The Arctic willow is the only woody species to grow on Ellesmere Island. In July 2007, a study noted the disappearance of habitat for waterfowl , invertebrates , and algae on Ellesmere Island. According to John Smol of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario , and Marianne S. V. Douglas of

3224-702: Is part of the Franklinian mobile belt, a zone of Cretaceous volcanic and intrusive rock. South of this is the Greely-Hazen Plateau, a large tableland composed of sedimentary and volcanic rocks. Covering most of the island, the coastal sedimentary plateau is a succession of highly eroded sedimentary peaks which are part of the Franklinian Shield with an extension of the Canadian Shield (Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rocks) in

3348-458: Is the journey of Qitlaq, who led a group of Inuit families from Baffin Island to northwestern Greenland, via Ellesmere Island, in the 1850s. This journey reestablished contact between Inuit who had been separated for two centuries and reintroduced vital technologies to the Inughuit. Other groups followed and by the 1870s Inuit were living on Ellesmere Island and had regular contact with those on

3472-492: Is the most northerly point of land in Canada and one of the most northern points of land on the planet (the most northerly point of land on Earth is the nearby Kaffeklubben Island of Greenland). The Arctic Cordillera mountain system covers much of Ellesmere Island, making it the most mountainous in the Arctic Archipelago. More than one-fifth of the island is protected as Quttinirpaaq National Park . In 2021,

3596-543: The 64th Air Division (Defense). As a result of the Cold War the mission of NEAC was to provide RADAR cover over the northwest Atlantic Ocean, to provide a fighter interceptor force to defend against approaching enemy aircraft, and to support United States Army anti-aircraft defense forces. These units initially included F-94 Starfire squadrons at Goose AFB in Labrador, and Ernest Harmon AFB in Newfoundland, as well as

3720-470: The Bache Peninsula , including pieces of chain mail. It is uncertain if Ellesmere Island was directly visited by Norse Greenlanders who sailed from the south or if the items were traded through a network of middlemen. It is also possible the items may have been taken from a shipwreck. A bronze set of scales discovered in western Ellesmere Island has been interpreted as indicating the presence of

3844-670: The Bahamas . No destroyers, or any other war material, was leased to Britain in exchange for the bases in Newfoundland or Bermuda, which were vital both as links in Britain's trans-Atlantic air routes and to waging the Battle of the Atlantic against Germany's submarines. The detailed lease agreements were not signed until March 1941. But by that time, American troops were already in Newfoundland. The first United States troops arrived in Newfoundland on 29 January 1941. The first base occupied

Fletcher's Ice Island - Misplaced Pages Continue

3968-619: The British Arctic Territories were transferred to Canada. Canada did little to solidify its legal possession of the islands until prompted by foreign action in 1902–03: Otto Sverdrup claimed three islands west of Ellesmere for Norway, the Alaska boundary dispute was settled against Canada's interests, and Roald Amundsen set out to sail the Northwest Passage. To establish an official government presence in

4092-528: The Cold War had erupted and a more urgent note was struck in the air defense of North America. The new Continental Air Command (ConAC), with headquarters at Mitchel Field , New York was established. Overall responsibility for air defense was vested in ConAC, and plans were made for a chain of Ground Control Intercept radar stations in Greenland and northeast Canada to detect any long-range Soviet aircraft approaching, with squadrons of interceptor aircraft to defend

4216-627: The Distant Early Warning Line radar stations in Canada and Greenland. Jurisdiction of stations and units reassigned to Strategic Air Command, 1957 The 64th Air Division was the primary operational component of the Northeast Air Command. It was an outgrowth of the 152d Aircraft Control and Warning Group (New York Air National Guard). Upon activation of the 64th AD, it inherited operational control of United States Army Anti-Aircraft units within

4340-616: The Northeast Air Command established a station called "BRAVO" on the iceberg. The reoccupied T-3 continued to drift off the northern Canadian coastline, eventually arriving in Alaskan waters by July 1959, where air support responsibilities were transferred to Alaskan bases. In May 1960, the ice island drifted aground at near Wainwright, Alaska , terminating several geophysical research programs. The following year in October,

4464-557: The United States Army Newfoundland Base Command (NBC), which formed on 15 January 1941. The NBC was formed to command bases in Newfoundland which came under United States control as a result of the 1940 Destroyers for Bases Agreement ; the 1941 US-Danish Agreement on Greenland, and the development by Air Transport Command of airfields in the Canadian Northwest Territories and Greenland to support aircraft ferry routes to Great Britain. In

4588-554: The University of Alberta in Edmonton , warming conditions and evaporation have caused low water levels and changes in the chemistry of ponds and wetlands in the area. The researchers noted that "In the 1980s they often needed to wear hip waders to make their way to the ponds...while by 2006 the same areas were dry enough to burn." Ellesmere Island has a tundra climate ( Köppen ET ) and an ice cap climate ( Köppen EF ) with

4712-486: The Ward Hunt Ice Shelf . In 1906 Robert Peary led an expedition in northern Ellesmere Island, from Cape Sheridan along the coast to the western side of Nansen Sound (93°W). During Peary's expedition, the ice shelf was continuous; it has since been estimated to have covered 8,900 km (3,400 sq mi). The ice shelf broke apart in the 20th century, presumably due to climate change . In 1880,

4836-679: The American Continent by Nazi Germany. The agreement, after explicitly recognizing the Danish sovereignty over Greenland, granted to the United States the right to locate and construct airplane landing fields and other facilities for the defense of Greenland and for the defense of the North American Continent. As soon as the agreement with the Danish Government was concluded, President Roosevelt authorized

4960-498: The Arctic Circle. Ellesmere has the highest and longest mountain ranges in eastern North America and is the most mountainous island in the Arctic Archipelago. It has over half of the archipelago's ice cover, with ice caps and glaciers across 40% of its surface. Its extensive coastline includes some of the world's longest fiords. To the west, Ellesmere is separated from Axel Heiberg Island by Nansen and Eureka Sounds ,

5084-784: The Arctic Research Laboratory established two temporary drift stations northeast of Barrow, primarily for scientific studies of telluric currents, geomagnetic variation, micropulsations, and aurora . ARLIS III was established on 10 February 1964 and was evacuated on 16 May 1964, while ARLIS IV operated between February and May 1965. The last attempt to resupply T-3 occurred during the Bering Sea Patrol of September to November 1967: participating ships were USCGC  Glacier , CCGS  John A. Macdonald , USCGC  Staten Island and USCGC  Northwind . The station remained active until 1 Oct 1974, and it

Fletcher's Ice Island - Misplaced Pages Continue

5208-609: The Eighth Air Force began its movement in the summer of 1942, work was still in progress all along the route. At that time it was hoped that some of the disadvantages of the existing route might be overcome by developing a more northerly airway extending from Great Falls, Montana, across Canada to Hudson Bay and thence by way of Baffin Island to Bluie West Eight in Greenland. In Canada, airfields were established at The Pas and Churchill in Manitoba; Southampton Island and

5332-735: The Ellesmere Ice Shelves has continued in the 21st century: the Ward Ice Shelf experienced a major breakup during the summer of 2002; the Ayles Ice Shelf calved entirely on 13 August 2005; the largest breakoff of the ice shelf in 25 years, it may pose a threat to the oil industry in the Beaufort Sea . The piece is 66 km (25 sq mi). In April 2008, it was discovered that the Ward Hunt shelf

5456-604: The Eureka Upland and the Hazen Plateau. Six different small-tool cultures have been identified at the Smith Sound region: Independence I, Independence I / Saqqaq , Pre-Dorset , Saqqaq, early Dorset, and late Dorset. They chiefly hunted muskoxen : more than three-quarters of their known archeological sites on Ellesmere are located in the island's interior and their winter dwellings were skin tents, suggesting

5580-800: The Far North – involved more than forty expeditions to the High Arctic over two decades, and represented the peak period of Euro-American Arctic exploration. Edward Augustus Inglefield led an 1852 expedition which surveyed the coastlines of Baffin Bay and Smith Sound, being stopped by ice in Nares Strait. He named Ellesmere Island for the president of the Royal Geographical Society (1849–1852), Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere . The Second Grinnell expedition (1853–1855) made slightly further progress before becoming trapped in

5704-563: The Far North, the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) were sent on sovereignty patrols. A NWMP detachment sailed to the Arctic whaling stations in 1903, where they forbade whalers from killing muskox or trading skins, in order to prevent overhunting and protect the Inuit's ability to sustain themselves. In 1904 a NWMP detachment sailed to Cape Herschel at the east end of Sverdrup Pass, where they could intercept hunters accessing

5828-633: The Joint Chiefs of Staff completed a worldwide reorganization plan, the Unified Command Plan . Its aim was a more efficient structure and reduced cost. It achieved this by consolidating organizations and eliminating excess superstructures. As part of this consolidation, United States Northeast Command (USNEC) was disestablished as a joint-service unified command, with control being assumed by the Air Force. The Army anti-aircraft group in

5952-556: The June thaw. The seasonal shift in daylight is also extreme. The polar night lasts from four-and-a-half months in the north to about three months in the south. Ellesmere's Arctic marine climate is strongly affected in the north by Arctic Ocean currents and the polar vortex, while the climate of the southeastern coast is influenced by the warm Atlantic water of the West Greenland Current . Interior regions shielded by

6076-654: The Newfoundland Base Command. Shortly afterwards, on 1 January 1946, Newfoundland Base Command was transferred from the Army Eastern Defense Command and was placed under the control of Air Transport Command . NBC's mission being to maintain key airfields used by ATC between the United States and Great Britain. ATC was inactivated and control of NBC was reassigned to the new Military Air Transport Service (MATS) on 1 June 1948. This arrangement continued until late 1950. By 1948,

6200-577: The North Atlantic and to provide convoy overflights over the shipping lanes, patrolling for U-boats . Both Canada and the United States built radar stations in Newfoundland. Beginning in the spring of 1944, the American stations were phased over to the RCAF so that American personnel could be moved to more active theaters. While the exchange of destroyers for a string of Atlantic bases was under negotiation, and then, while plans and preparations for developing

6324-410: The Northeastern Defense Command became the Eastern Theater of Operations (ETO) and assumed First Army's role in continental defense. In March 1942 the ETO was renamed the Eastern Defense Command. The NBC was under the direct control of US Army General Headquarters for U.S. Troops in Newfoundland in the defense of the northeastern seaboard through First Army/Eastern Defense Command. The Base Command

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6448-408: The Red Cross who were using the same route for medical evacuation of wounded soldiers from the European Theatre . As an alternate to the previously developed base at Gander Lake in southern Newfoundland, the Canadian government in September 1941 began the development of Goose Bay in Labrador. During the preceding July the United States had sent engineers to Narsarssuak in Greenland for the building of

6572-420: The Thule culture, which had diverged during the isolation imposed by the Little Ice Age.) Knowledge of Ellesmere persisted in the oral histories of the Inuit of Baffin Island and the Inughuit of northern Greenland, who each called it Umingmak Nuna ( Inuktitut for 'land of muskoxen '). The search for Franklin's lost expedition – also searching for the Northwest Passage and to establish claims to

6696-405: The Thule sent summer hunting parties to harvest marine mammals in Nansen Strait. Their summer camps are evidenced by tent rings as far north as Archer Fiord, with clusters of stone dwellings around Lady Franklin Bay and at Lake Hazen which suggest semi-permanent occupations. The Thule genetically and culturally completely replaced the Dorset people some time after 1300 CE. The Thule displaced

6820-579: The US. Thule AB was constructed in secret under the code name Operation Blue Jay, with construction beginning in 1951. Construction took place around the clock. The workers lived on board the ship until quarters were built. It was built with a 10,000-foot (by 200') runway and a fuel storage capacity of about 100 million US gallons (380,000 m ). On 1 July 1951, the 6622nd AB Squadron of NEAC arrived and air operations commenced on 11 September 1951. The first fighter interceptors assigned to Thule were four F-9ABs and began operations on 11 September 1952. This

6944-421: The War Department to go ahead with the preparations for building airfields and other facilities in Greenland. $ 5 million in funds previously allocated for constructing the bases acquired from the British in the Bases for Destroyers agreement was re-allocated to Greenland. On 30 June construction of the first U.S. Army and Navy base in Greenland, code-named Bluie West I began. Greenland Base Command (GBC)

7068-435: The Western Hemisphere and within the scope of the Monroe Doctrine . The Department of State reached an agreement on 9 April 1941 with Danish Foreign Minister, Henrik de Kauffmann, acting on behalf of His Majesty the King of Denmark in his capacity as sovereign of Greenland. The agreement recognized that as a result of the European war there was danger that Greenland may be converted into a point of aggression against nations of

7192-506: The abandoned buildings, and re-established the station which previously served as a second drifting station and a fuel depot for the flights to the station ARLIS II. In December 1963, the station ARLIS II reached the most northern point of its journey and eventually drifted out through the Fram Strait with the East Greenland Current . During this period, re-supply operations were performed by Keflavik Naval Air Station in Iceland . After 47 months and 18 days of continuous operation, ARLIS II

7316-465: The ability to make boats. Thus, the waters around Ellesmere were not navigated again until the arrival of large European vessels after 1800. Much of the initial phase of European exploration of the North American Arctic was centred on a search for the Northwest Passage and undertaken by Britain. The 1616 expedition of William Baffin were the first Europeans to record sighting the then-unnamed Ellesmere Island (Baffin named Jones and Smith Sounds on

7440-457: The air base that came to be known as BLUIE WEST 1 (BW-1), and in the following September work began on BW-8, a much more northerly base on the western coast of Greenland. United States forces had taken over the defense of Iceland in July 1941, where they improved airstrips previously occupied by the RAF and began in the spring of 1942 to build two new air bases (Meeks and Patterson) near Keflavik. The eastern terminal lay at Prestwick in Scotland. When

7564-502: The airfield was used to recover the crew of the downed B-29 Kee Bird . The War Department decided that there was no longer a requirement for active defense of the areas of the North Atlantic bases. The Army began withdrawing personnel and equipment from the area, and on 1 September 1945, Greenland Base Command was consolidated with Newfoundland Base Command and became a subordinate organization of NBC. All United States Army and USAAF forces in Labrador and Northeast Canada were placed under

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7688-429: The airspace of North America. The Newfoundland Base Command was inactivated on 1 October 1950, and control of units and the former Newfoundland and Greenland Base Commands facilities was transferred to the Northeast Air Command (NEAC). Similar to the Military Air Transport Service, NEAC was a Unified Department of Defense Command, under the jurisdiction of the United States Northeast Command (USNEC) . USNEC operated as

7812-566: The area, the 7th at Thule, was assigned to Army Anti-Aircraft Command . On 1 April 1957 the USAF discontinued NEAC. Air Defense Command and Strategic Air Command divided the Air Force units and equipment that had been under NEAC. ADC took over the USAF defense forces (including the 64th Air Division ). ADC also took possession of Pepperrell AFB and all U.S. RADAR stations. SAC assumed ownership of Goose, Harmon, Thule, Narsarssuak, Sondrestrom, and Frobisher Bay Airport. Finally, ADC succeeded NEAC in its responsibilities for supporting and operating

7936-399: The base, which was given the code name Bluie West One (BW-1), and the first plane set down on 24 January 1942. Work on a second west coast base further north, at Sondrestrom or Bluie West Eight , began in September 1941. A third field was placed on the east coast almost directly across from BW-1 at Angmagssalik (Bluie East Two). An interesting contribution to the defense of Greenland

8060-586: The camp at any one time. The resupply was mostly operated during the winter period while the runway was suitable for aircraft landing. This also indicated operating during the most severe weather conditions, such as very low ceilings and prevailing reduced visibility. Accurate weather forecasting was not available until much later, due to the absence of reporting stations and the distance to travel over remote arctic wastes. Winds in excess of 45 knots and temperatures below minus 30°F (-34°C) had also been recorded at both stations during resupply operations. Resupply for T-3

8184-409: The central-east side of the island, and the Northern Ellesmere icefields (24,400 km (9,400 sq mi)). The northwest coast of Ellesmere Island was covered by a massive, 500 km (310 mi) long ice shelf until the 20th century. The Ellesmere Ice Shelf shrank by 90 per cent in the 20th century due to warming trends in the Arctic, particularly in the 1930s and 1940s, a period when

8308-408: The cold, dry winds become naturally freeze-dried while items that become buried are preserved in the permafrost. Artefacts are in a similar condition to when they were left or lost, and settlements abandoned thousands of years ago can be seen much as they were the day their inhabitants left. From these sites and artefacts, archaeologists have been able to construct a history of these cultures. However,

8432-442: The difficulty of dislodging one, once it was discovered. An air patrol of the east coast, even after the new bases were completed proved its worth by assisting in the capture of the trawler Buskoe on 12 September, as that vessel, a small German-controlled Norwegian ship, was attempting to establish a radio and weather station in the Mackenzie Bay area. In addition to the Army Airfields, the United States Navy Atlantic Fleet established

8556-400: The distance from southern California, where much of the U.S. aircraft industry was concentrated, to Iceland was reduced by almost 600 miles (970 km), with no leg of the journey longer than 850 miles (1,370 km). Nearly 900 aircraft were ferried through the North Atlantic bases to active combat theaters in 1942, approximately 3,200 in 1943, over 8,400 in 1944, and approximately 2,150 in

8680-451: The glacial retreat of 8,000 to 6,000 BCE. There is a lack of species diversity, with a small number of animal species and short food chains. These species have adapted to take advantage of the productive summer while surviving through winter scarcity. Zooplankton, for example, grow to a larger body size and produce larger eggs in greater numbers than in other regions. Northeast Air Command Northeast Air Command ( NEAC )

8804-465: The government amended the Northwest Game Act to prohibit the killing of muskoxen except for Native inhabitants who otherwise faced starvation. In 1920, the government learned that Inughuit from Greenland had been annually visiting Ellesmere Island for polar bear and muskox hunting – in violation of Canadian law – selling the skins at Knud Rasmussen 's trading post at Qaanaaq , formerly known as Thule. The Danish government stated that North Greenland

8928-489: The ice. Over two winters the expedition charted both sides of Kane Basin to about 80°N, from where Elisha Kent Kane claimed to have sighted the conjectured Open Polar Sea . During this period, as the Little Ice Age abated and the hunting of marine mammals became more feasible again, Aboriginal peoples began to return to Ellesmere Island. The most well-known of these migrations in both Inuit and European accounts

9052-437: The iceberg after it had been missing for six months. Dave Turner, an experienced NOAA pilot who was one of the last persons to observe T-3, reported that the ice floe was found about 150 miles from the North Pole . T-3 was easily spotted, as its surface was distinctly decorated by remaining structures of a C-47 aircraft wrecked years before. At the time of discovery, the iceberg was about one-third of its original thickness. It

9176-488: The iceberg was actually "discovered". Concerned about Soviet postwar activities in the Arctic, the U.S. Air Force initiated B-29 reconnaissance flights over the Arctic region beginning in 1946, and, by 1951, the reconnaissance trips to the North Pole were being performed daily. During the reconnaissance flights, several large icebergs were discovered, and the following year of 1952, the Alaska Air Command started

9300-622: The iceberg's flat surface. The stations were abandoned in May 1954, when the weather observations were deemed redundant, but were reoccupied from April to September 1955. In April 1957, the station "ALPHA" was installed on the iceberg, which was the first long-term scientific base in the Arctic operated by a Western country. However, at the time of its establishment, the Soviets had already operated six drifting iceberg stations of this kind. In April 1958, several large cracks were observed around ALPHA, and

9424-543: The interior of Ellesmere. While the fur trade was brought under control, American exploration parties to the Far North had acted with autonomy and intensively hunted terrestrial mammals to sustain their expeditions. Peary's parties had heavily hunted muskoxen on Ellesmere and had nearly brought the extinction of caribou in northern Greenland; the Crocker Land Expedition (1913–1916) also extensively hunted muskoxen. In response to these and other trespasses,

9548-490: The interior. At Lake Hazen, Peary's expedition recorded daytime temperatures of −53 °C (−64 °F) in February ;1900, and a Defence Research Board party recorded temperatures as low as −56.2 °C (−69.2 °F) in the winter of 1957–58. Nonetheless, there are archaeological remains of winter dwellings of both Independence and Thule cultures in the interior. A paleolimnological study of algae in

9672-844: The island from east to west, establishing Fort Conger in the northern part of the island. The Greely expedition found fossil forests on Ellesmere Island in the late 1880s. Stenkul Fiord was first explored in 1902 by Per Schei, a member of Otto Sverdrup 's 2nd Norwegian Polar Expedition. The Ellesmere Ice Shelf was documented by the British Arctic Expedition of 1875–76, in which Lieutenant Pelham Aldrich 's party went from Cape Sheridan ( 82°28′N 061°30′W  /  82.467°N 61.500°W  / 82.467; -61.500  ( Cape Sheridan ) ) west to Cape Alert ( 82°16′N 85°33′W  /  82.267°N 85.550°W  / 82.267; -85.550  ( Cape Alert (Ellesmere Island) ) ), including

9796-582: The island's high mountain ranges experience distinctive quasi-continental microclimates . The highest precipitation is on the northern coast, averaging 80 to 100 mm (3.1 to 3.9 in). On the south side of the Grant Land mountains, only 20 mm (0.79 in) reaches the Hazen Plateau. The average number of snow-free days varies from 45 days on the north coast to 77 days in the Eureka–Tanquary corridor. Winters are considerably colder in

9920-534: The island's south and southeast coasts). However, the onset of the Little Ice Age interrupted the progress of explorations for two centuries. In 1818, an ice jam in Baffin Bay broke, allowing European vessels access to the High Arctic ( whalers had been active in Davis Strait , about 1,000 km [620 mi] southeast of Ellesmere, since 1719). Baffin Bay was then navigable in the summers due to

10044-717: The island's southeastern corner. In addition, there are syntectonic clastics which comprise the Ellesmere Island Volcanics of the Sverdrup Basin Magmatic Province . A period of uplift and faulting prior to the Pleistocene epoch (>2.6 Ma ) established the overall features of the island. Additional uplift occurred due to isostatic rebound following the last glacial period. Land features were then shaped by erosion from glacial ice, meltwaters, and scouring by sea ice. It

10168-455: The largest ice islands (the 520 km (200 sq mi) T1 and the 780 km (300 sq mi) T2 ice islands) were formed leaving the separate Alfred Ernest , Ayles, Milne, Ward Hunt, and Markham Ice Shelves. The Ward Hunt Ice Shelf , the largest remaining section of thick (>10 m, >30 ft ) landfast sea ice along the northern coastline of Ellesmere Island, lost almost 600 km (230 sq mi) of ice in

10292-548: The last five months of the European conflict in 1945; in all nearly 15,000 planes. Equally important, and indeed fundamental to the fulfilment of the ferrying mission itself, was the development of a safe, dependable service for strategic air transportation between the United States and the United Kingdom. In 1946,the Navy built a new and much larger weather station at Thule, Greenland. The Army Corps of Engineers built

10416-641: The latter of which narrows to 13 km (8.1 mi). Devon Island is to the south across Jones Sound ; at the west end of the sound, they are separated by North Kent Island and two channels which narrow to 4 and 10 km (2.5 and 6.2 mi). Greenland is to the east across Nares Strait ; the strait narrows to 46 km (29 mi) at Cape Isabella on Smith Sound and further north narrows to 19 km (12 mi) at Robeson Channel . These channels and straits typically freeze over in winter, though winds and currents leave pockets of open water (temporary leads and persistent polynyas ) in Nares Strait. To

10540-754: The major air systems strengthen towards their annual peak in winter, the Arctic and Atlantic air masses collide in autumn to produce severe storms at Ellesmere. The storm season peaks in October and persists until the sea freezes. The polar vortex strengthens during the polar night and gives rise to easterly winds which are major hazards for populations, especially given the very low temperatures. January winds have been recorded at 104 km/h (65 mph) with gusts to 130–145 km/h (81–90 mph) at Fort Conger and 65–80 km/h (40–50 mph) at Lake Hazen. Very cold temperatures continue until April and no month passes without experiencing freezing temperatures. Snowfall begins in late August and does not melt until

10664-662: The neighbouring islands. Contact between Inuit and Europeans or Americans was often indirect, as the Inuit happened upon shipwrecks or abandoned base camps which provided wood and metal resources. European goods were also obtained through inter-group trade. Long-term contact began in the 1800s through whaling stations and trading posts, which frequently relocated. Euro-American expeditions employed Inughuit, Inuit and west Greenlander guides, hunters and labourers, gradually blending their knowledge with European technology to conduct effective exploration. British and United States Arctic expeditions had been interrupted for some years due to

10788-529: The new bases were getting under way, the United Kingdom and Canada were consolidating their position in the North Atlantic by stationing troops in Iceland and were attempting to counter German activities in Greenland . With United States bases were under construction in Newfoundland, a number of possible sites for airfields in Greenland were made in late 1940. Greenland being a Danish colony with Denmark under

10912-620: The north of Ellesmere is the Arctic Ocean , with Lincoln Sea to the northeast. More than one-fifth of the island is protected as Quttinirpaaq National Park (formerly Ellesmere Island National Park Reserve), which includes seven fjords and a variety of glaciers , as well as Lake Hazen , North America's largest lake north of the Arctic Circle . Barbeau Peak , the highest mountain in Nunavut (2,616 m [8,583 ft])

11036-545: The occupation of Nazi Germany at the time. These surveys were made with the justification that the defense of the American bases in Newfoundland and of the northeastern United States would be affected by a German military air base in Greenland. Neither the United States, nor Canada or the UK desired any Wehrmacht facilities or armed forces in Greenland to obtain weather data. During the summer of 1940 Nazi Germany had organized in Norway

11160-522: The population of Ellesmere Island was recorded at 144. There are three settlements: Alert , Eureka , and Grise Fiord . Ellesmere Island is administered as part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region in the Canadian territory of Nunavut . Ellesmere Island has three major geological regions. The Grant Land Highlands is a large belt of fold mountains which dominate the northern face of the island. It

11284-486: The presence of an ice dam in Smith Sound, which prevented Arctic drift ice from flowing south. The other channels of the archipelago remained congested with ice. That year, John Ross led the first recorded European expedition to Cape York , at which time there were reportedly only 140 Inughuit . (The Inughuit of North Greenland, the Kalaallit of West Greenland, and Inuit of the archipelago are descendants of

11408-542: The priorities of the Crimean War and the American Civil War , respectively. By about 1860, the focus of Arctic exploration had shifted to the North Pole . As earlier attempts at the pole via Svalbard or eastern Greenland had reached impasses, numerous expeditions came to Ellesmere Island to pursue the route through Nares Straight. The United States expedition led by Adolphus Greely in 1881 crossed

11532-507: The range limit of these aircraft, the station was evacuated in March 1961. A more permanent drifting ice station was desired for the second Arctic Research Laboratory Ice Station (ARLIS II), but with T-3 grounded, a tentative site on an ice floe was selected. However, during its deployment in May 1961 the ice ground began breaking up on a large scale, and the Navy found another 3.5 by 1.5 mile iceberg north of Point Barrow . In next 22 days, using

11656-500: The research is incomplete and only a small proportion of the details of excavations have been published. The Arctic small tool tradition peoples ( a.k.a. Paleo-Eskimos ) in the High Arctic had small populations organized as hunting bands, spread from Axel Heiberg Island to the northern extremity of Greenland, where the Independence ;I culture was active from 2700 BCE. On Ellesmere, they chiefly hunted in

11780-492: The sediments of shallow ponds on Cape Herschel (which faces Smith Sound on Ellesmere's eastern coast ) found that the ponds had been permanent and relatively stable for several millennia until experiencing ecological changes associated with warming, beginning around 1850 and accelerating in the early 2000s. During the 23-year study period, an ecological threshold was crossed as several of the study ponds had completely desiccated while others had very reduced water levels. In addition,

11904-563: The small-tool cultures, having a number of technological advantages which notably included effective weapons, kayaks and umiaks for hunting marine mammals, and sled dogs for surface transport and pursuit. The Thule also had an extensive trade network, evidenced by meteoritic iron from Greenland which was exported through Ellesmere Island to the rest of the archipelago and to the North American mainland. More than fifty Norse artefacts have been found in Thule archeological sites on

12028-424: The station was abandoned again, but the site was left intact for possible future use. As U.S. Navy was still eager to continue Arctic based operations, the Arctic Research Laboratory planned to install a new station to replace the former station CHARLIE. However, this intention was balked at the costs required to charter a C-47 for the installation. Instead, following September an icebreaker USS Burton Island (AGB-1)

12152-610: The station was forced to relocate 2 km away from its original location. In August 1958, after the US Submarine USS ; Skate  (SSN-578) made a visit to the station ALPHA, the surrounding ice ground began cracking and ridging again, so the station was finally abandoned in November 1958. However, the U.S. Department of Defense still had interest in continuing research in the Arctic. In April 1959, another scientific station named "CHARLIE" (also named as ALPHA II)

12276-516: The summer of 1940, President Roosevelt began negotiating with British Ambassador to the United States, Lord Lothian for the American lease of British bases, the "rental" to take the form of fifty over-age destroyers. On 2 September 1940, the negotiations were completed. In exchange for the destroyers, the U. S. got ninety-nine-year leases for bases in Dominion of Newfoundland , Bermuda , British Guiana , Antigua , Trinidad , St. Lucia , Jamaica and

12400-455: The summer. Between 1962 and 1964, as the iceberg drifted farther north, away from Barrow and across the Arctic Ocean , resupply from Alaska became difficult. While station ARLIS II was drifting away from Barrow, the iceberg T-3 was rediscovered in February 1962 over 100 miles north of where it had been previously observed. The Arctic Research Laboratory reoccupied the iceberg, refurbished

12524-715: The temperature being cold year-round. Two semi-permanent air systems dominate the weather: the high-pressure northern polar vortex and a low-pressure area which forms in different sites between Baffin Bay and the Labrador Sea. Prevailing winds on Ellesmere are northwesterly, cold, and of low humidity due to ice cover over the Arctic Ocean. Seasonal shifts on Ellesmere are sudden and striking: winters are long and harsh, summers short and relatively abundant, with spring and autumn being brief intervals of transition. Fog regularly occurs near open water in September. While

12648-534: The western side of Ellesmere. In addition to intercepting illegal hunting and fur-trading, the RCMP conducted patrols and encouraged the Inuit to maintain their traditional lifestyle. The posts were closed in the mid-1930s, after the sovereignty issues had been settled. Ellesmere Island is the northernmost island of the Arctic Archipelago in Canada's Far North and one of the world's northernmost land masses . It

12772-442: The wetlands surrounding the ponds were severely affected and dried vegetation could be easily burned. Large portions of Ellesmere Island are covered with glaciers and ice, with Manson Icefield (6,200 km (2,400 sq mi)) and Sydkap (3,700 km (1,400 sq mi)) in the south; Prince of Wales Icefield (20,700 km (8,000 sq mi)) and Agassiz Ice Cap (21,500 km (8,300 sq mi)) along

12896-470: The winning of the war, particularly in the Pacific. After the arrival of the civilian construction force the engineer battalion, reinforced by a company of the 42nd Engineers (General Service), concentrated exclusively on airfield construction. They continued to do so until February 1942 when the civilian force took over this work as well. By then the first runway was ready for limited use. Construction work on

13020-553: Was Detachment 1 of the 59th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, which went to Thule AB, Greenland with four F-94B's. Additional interceptor squadrons were established at Goose AFB in Labrador and Ernest Harmon AFB in Newfoundland and were composed of F-94s and F-89s. Also, there were numerous deployments of fighter-interceptor squadrons from the Tactical Air Command and Air Defense Command to NEAC bases, along with Strategic Air Command tankers and bombers, primarily using Thule as

13144-557: Was a Major Command of the United States Air Force , responsible for the operation and defense of air bases in Greenland , Labrador , and Newfoundland . It was formed in 1950 from the facilities of the United States established during World War II in eastern Canada, Newfoundland and Greenland. It was discontinued in 1957. Northeast Air Command (NEAC) was originally formed from the World War II facilities of

13268-407: Was a "no man's land" outside their administration and Rasmussen, as the de facto sole authority, refused to stop the trade which the Inughuit needed to support themselves. In response, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) detachments were established on Ellesmere Island at Craig Harbour in 1922 and at Bache Post in 1926, positioned to guard the coastal and overland routes to the hunting grounds on

13392-547: Was a source of much concern to the United States. In addition to seizing German ships and weather equipment on Greenland, the British and Canadians were planning on building air bases on the island to conduct antisubmarine warfare in the North Atlantic. Although the United States Government had acquiesced in the British garrisoning of Iceland , it had no desire to see Britain make the same move into Greenland; for Greenland was, unlike Iceland, definitely within

13516-644: Was a temporary tent camp near St. John's called Camp Alexander. Nearby Fort Pepperrell (renamed Pepperrell Air Force Base on 16 June 1949) received its first troops in November 1941. Newfoundland Base Command (NBC) was assigned to the Northeastern (later Eastern) Defense Command , a subordinate continental defense command of First United States Army , whose area included the east coast of the United States, with both commanded by Lt. General Hugh A. Drum , based at Fort Jay in New York City. In December 1941

13640-502: Was employed to transport the equipment, and the Arctic Research Laboratory Ice Station I (known as ARLIS I) was constructed in under 40 hours. Although ARLIS I was designed to support eight scientists and four technical personnel, the station never achieved its full potential. As the iceberg drifted westward, small aircraft ( Cessna 180 ) were employed to resupply the station. However, upon approaching

13764-416: Was established by the Alaska Air Command with assistance from the Navy's Arctic Research Laboratory. Scientific research activity was conducted from June 1959 to January 1960. When the ice floe cracked and shortened the runway sufficiently to terminate aircraft resupply operations, station CHARLIE had to be evacuated. Meanwhile, on 7 March 1957, using several 42-foot-long (13 m) commercial house trailers,

13888-437: Was established on 1 September 1941 with headquarters at Bluie West I to take charge of the U.S. forces and facilities being planned. By the end of September 1941, when the contractor's people arrived, the troops at Bluie West I had erected 85 buildings, about two-thirds of the total needed for the initial force, and had begun to install the necessary utilities. They had built three miles (5 km) of access roads, constructed

14012-546: Was evacuated in May 1965 by the icebreaker USCGC Edisto (WAGB-284) . The station hosted 14 different research projects, including 337 personnel. Upon completion of major restoration of ARLIS II, a full occupation of T-3 by the Arctic Research Laboratory was initiated in September 1965. And by this time, the iceberg had completely circled the Beaufort Gyre . Meanwhile, while the ARLIS II and T-3 ice stations were occupied,

14136-577: Was fractured, with dozens of deep, multi-faceted cracks and in September 2008 the Markham shelf (50 km (19 sq mi)) completely broke off to become floating sea ice . A 2018 study measured a 5.9% reduction in area amongst 1,773 glaciers in Northern Ellesmere island in the 16-year period 1999–2015 based on satellite data. In the same period, 19 out of 27 ice tongues disintegrated to their grounding lines and ice shelves suffered

14260-411: Was given several additional units. In this form it had two primary missions, the former MATS mission supporting air transport and logistics, and a new role defending the defensive air bases of interceptors and radar stations being established in the region. NEAC's Area of Operations was defined as Newfoundland, Labrador, northeastern Canada, and Greenland. The operational units of NEAC were organized into

14384-403: Was hampered by a mix of varying obstacles. Due to the iceberg's constantly moving location, resupply had to be operated from two air bases Point Barrow, Alaska and Thule Air Base , Greenland . At that time, flights were conducted without navigational aids, and the aircraft landing on the constantly moving iceberg T-3 was performed solely by dead reckoning and celestial grid navigation, which

14508-600: Was headquartered at Fort Pepperrell , St. John's , Newfoundland . Another major base was Naval Station Argentia . The first USAAF presence in Newfoundland was in May 1941 when six B-18 Bolos from the First Air Force 21st Reconnaissance Squadron arrived at RCAF Station Gander . Later, the Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command (AAFAC) used both Gander and RCAF Station Torbay near St. John's for antisubmarine patrols over

14632-631: Was last visited in 1979. After being satellite-monitored for years, the iceberg eventually drifted through the Fram Strait in 1983. Satellite monitoring had been employed to keep track of the iceberg T-3 since it was abandoned, but meteorologists lost track of it in the autumn of 1982. A request was made to the NOAA flight research team to keep an eye out for T-3. On July 3, 1983, the Associated Press reported U.S. scientists had rediscovered

14756-537: Was often hampered by long periods of twilight , which prevented celestial observation. Also, because the nearest alternate air bases were 475 miles (764 km) away, potential in-flight emergencies could result in fatal outcomes. In this regard, pilots and their crews had to calculate cargo and fuel loads precisely to insure not only a safe landing but also a safe return from the iceberg. Iceberg T-3 had once been reported to have been identified during World War II, but there are several conflicting reports in regard to when

14880-456: Was over the North Pole , and Thule is at the precise midpoint between Moscow and New York. Thule became a key point in the whole American military strategy. Strategic Air Command bombers flying over the Arctic presented less risk of early warning than using bases in England. Defensively, Thule could serve as a base for intercepting bomber attacks along the northeastern approaches to Canada and

15004-653: Was responsible for its own supply, which was to be provided by the Second Corps Area , the service of supply organization also headquartered at Fort Jay, to the same extent as for units of the field forces. NBC provided ground, antiaircraft, and harbor defense of U.S. bases in Newfoundland and Labrador , to work with Canada in defending Newfoundland, and to cooperate with the United States Navy in Newfoundland defense. Newfoundland Base Command

15128-625: Was the Northeast Greenland dog sledge patrol organized in the summer of 1941 as a joint endeavor of the Army, the United States Coast Guard, and the Greenland Government. All the activity on the east coast the year before had demonstrated the ease with which anyone could establish a foothold in the vast Arctic wastes, the near impossibility of finding a hostile force that had established itself, and

15252-530: Was to aid in moving military aircraft to Great Britain as part of the Lend-Lease Act prior to American entry into World War II. The Canada-U.S. Permanent Joint Board on Defence made the plan official as Recommendations 17 and 26 in July 1941 and June 1942 respectively. First referred to as the "North East Staging Route," it eventually became known as the "Crimson Project" or " Crimson Route ", supposedly after

15376-612: Was virtually indistinguishable from the pack ice at any distance. The temporary drift station consisting of insulated huts was first assembled by the U.S. Military. By the end of May, 1957, a 1500-meter-long runway and most of the station's 26 Jamesway huts had been completed, allowing the commencement of scientific operations. Beginning in 1952 scientists including Albert P. Crary arrived and performed numerous scientific investigations including hydrographic measurements, seismic soundings, and meteorological observations. In general, 25- to 30-person military crews and scientists staffed

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