Located on the coast of Greenland, a new island has been discovered by a team of Arctic researchers from Denmark. According to the researchers, they have discovered this island by luck. They also believe that this new island is the world's northernmost island which is located near Greenland's coast.

The new island is located around 780 m north of Oodaaq. Oodaaq is the northernmost point of Greenland and is one of the most northern points of land on Earth.

In 1978, the Danish survey team had discovered Oodaaq. Scientists from the University of Copenhagen went to collect samples from Oodaaq. When they checked their location with the Danish official who was in charge of registering Arctic islands, they discovered that they were 800m further north. This led to the discovery of an undiscovered island located further north.

"We were convinced that the island we were standing on was Oodaaq, which until then was registered as the world's northernmost island," said Morten Rasch who was the expedition leader and was from the university's department of geosciences and natural resource management.

The University observed that this tiny northernmost island was brought to light due to shifting of the ice pack around by 60 m in size and also lead to rising of sea level above 3 to 4 m. However, the research team does not consider this island to have emerged due to climatic changes. They have allegedly proposed to name this island Qeqertaq Avannarleq which in Greenlandic means the northernmost island.

The new island is made up of seabed mud and moraine, i.e., soil, rock and other material left behind by moving glaciers, and has no vegetation. “It meets the criteria of an island,” says Rene Forsberg, professor and head of geodynamics at Denmark’s National Space Institute.

According to Reuters, the discovery comes as a battle is looming among Arctic nations, the US, Russia, Canada, Denmark and Norway for the control of the North Pole and of the surrounding seabed, fishing rights and shipping routes exposed by melting ice due to climate change.

According to Forsberg, an advisor to the Danish government, the new island would not change Denmark’s territorial claim north of Greenland.

However, Morten Rasch said that no one knows how long that island would remain. It could also disappear when a powerful new storm hits.

Image source: The Guardian