Vansittart Island
- Terra MODIS
Vansittart Island is situated
within the extreme southwestern regions of the Foxe Basin, located at the northwestern end of the Foxe Channel. The island's
north westernmost tip at Cape Shackleton lies 1.6 km across the Hurd Channel from the southeastern coastline of the Canadian
mainland's Melville Peninsula (at top edge of the above image). To the southwest, across the Frozen Strait, lie
White Island (at left in the image) and the large Southampton Island.
Vansittart Island (997 km²) has a length of 75 km with a maximum width of 26 km. In outline the island consists of two main sections that are delineated by a narrow isthmus in the centre where Sokongen Bay (on the north) and Petersen Bay (on the south) reduce the island's width to just 1.4 km. The landscape is quite low-lying over much of the island, consisting of an interior plateau region of between 50 m and 100 m above sea level that is punctuated by small hills rising 50 m to 100 m above the surrounding terrain. The eastern side of the island is generally more elevated than that of the west, with the eastern coastline often dropping to the sea in sharp slopes.
image: MODIS rapid response project at nasa/goddard space flight center.
