Queen Elizabeth Islands

[note 1] The islands, together 419,061 km2 (161,800 sq mi)[2] in area, were renamed as a group after Elizabeth II on her coronation as Queen of Canada in 1953.

The islands cover an area approximately the shape of a right triangle, bounded by the Nares Strait on the east, Parry Channel on the south and the Arctic Ocean to the north and west.

Most are uninhabited although the Natural Resources Canada's Climate Change Geoscience Program Earth Sciences Sector (ESS), has monitors on the islands.

Hogg and Enachescu argued that the development and implementation of advanced marine and land seismic technologies in Alaska, Northern Europe and Siberia could be modified for use in the Queen Elizabeth Islands.

[4] Queen Elizabeth Islands had not been fully charted until the British Northwest Passage expeditions and later Norwegian exploration of the 19th century.

Eureka, a small research base on Ellesmere Island, has a population of zero but at least eight staff on a continuous rotational basis.

Abandoned Permanent Settlement Seasonally Occupied 82°30′N 62°20′W / 82.500°N 62.333°W / 82.500; -62.333 (Alert) 78°54′N 75°59′W / 78.900°N 75.983°W / 78.900; -75.983 (Alexandra Fiord) 81°49′N 62°19′W / 81.817°N 62.317°W / 81.817; -62.317 (Camp Hazen) 76°12′N 81°01′W / 76.200°N 81.017°W / 76.200; -81.017 (Craig Harbour) 74°31′N 82°23′W / 74.517°N 82.383°W / 74.517; -82.383 (Dundas Harbour) 79°59′N 82°23′W / 79.983°N 82.383°W / 79.983; -82.383 (Dundas Harbour) 75°25′N 89°49′W / 75.417°N 89.817°W / 75.417; -89.817 (Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station) 81°43′N 64°43′W / 81.717°N 64.717°W / 81.717; -64.717 (Fort Conger) 74°41′N 94°49′W / 74.683°N 94.817°W / 74.683; -94.817 (Resolute) Formerly staffed stations were Mould Bay on Prince Patrick Island, Isachsen on Ellef Ringnes Island, and Fort Conger on Ellesmere Island.

[1][48][49] Of the four ice caps that the federal government's NRCan's Climate Change Geoscience Program Earth Sciences Sector (ESS), monitors onsite in the Canadian High Arctic, three are in the Queen Elizabeth Islands: Devon, Meighen and Melville.

[3] A 2013 Natural Resources Canada memo says that shrinking of the ice caps started in the late 1980s, and has accelerated rapidly since 2005.