Lancaster Sound
Encyclopedia
Lancaster Sound is a body of water in Qikiqtaaluk, Nunavut
, Canada. It is located between Devon Island
and Baffin Island
, forming the eastern portion of the Northwest Passage
. East of the sound lies Baffin Bay
; to the west lies Viscount Melville Sound
. Further west a traveler would enter the McClure Strait
before heading into the Arctic Ocean
.
Lancaster Sound was named in 1616 by explorer William Baffin
for one of the three main financial supporters of his exploratory expeditions. The abortive expedition by the British explorer John Ross
in 1818 ended when he saw what he believed were mountains blocking the end of Lancaster Sound. The sound was thoroughly explored during an extensive aerial mapping program of Northern Canada
by the Canadian Government which took from the 1930s until the late 1950s to complete. Coincidentally, the type of aircraft that was used to complete the mapping program was the Avro Lancaster
, a World War II heavy bomber which had been converted for mapping.
, is common for nine months of the year. A shore lead
system ensures there are ice-free water areas.
(30,000 tons worth) known to exist there. The Arctic cod is also part of the diet for many of the birds in Lancaster Sound and marine mammals. Many narwhal
, beluga, bowhead whale
(an endangered species), ringed
, bearded
and harp seals
, walrus
, polar bears
, thick-billed murres
, Black-legged Kittiwake
s, northern fulmar
s, black guillemots
, arctic terns
, ivory gull
s and snow geese
all occupy the area.
This area is not yet represented in the Canadian national marine conservation areas systems even though an attempt to do so at the request of local Inuit
was made in 1987.
A preliminary Minerals and Energy Resource Assessment to create a National Marine Park is completed in 1989.
On December 8, 2009, Canadian Environment Minister, Jim Prentice
announced a $5 million feasibility study for a new national marine conservation area (NMCA) in Lancaster Sound.
A National Marine Conservation Area designation precludes oil and gas development, and so questions arose when the Nunavut Impact Review Board approved a NRCAN Geological Survey of Canada proposal to perform seismic testing for oil within Lancaster and Jones Sound in August and September, 2010 . The new seismic tests were not part of the Mineral and Energy Resource Assessment (MERA) process necessary in establishing new parks. In June 2010, communities and groups came out against seismic testing in Lancaster and Jones Sound.
In late June planned seismic tests were apparently scaled back. But then in late July NRCan announced that plans for seismic testing were proceeding despite the unanimous opposition of Inuit communities and supporting organizations.
In a major ruling on Aug 8, 2010 a Nunavut court sided with Inuit and stopped the planned seismic testing citing the risks to marine animals and cultural heritage.
The federal Conservative government announced on December 6, 2010 that it will establish the boundaries of a new marine park in Lancaster Sound.
Nunavut
Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...
, Canada. It is located between Devon Island
Devon Island
Devon Island , claimed to be the largest uninhabited island on Earth, is located in Baffin Bay, Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is one of the larger members of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the second-largest of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, Canada's sixth largest island, and the 27th...
and Baffin Island
Baffin Island
Baffin Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut is the largest island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the largest island in Canada and the fifth largest island in the world. Its area is and its population is about 11,000...
, forming the eastern portion of the Northwest Passage
Northwest Passage
The Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...
. East of the sound lies Baffin Bay
Baffin Bay
Baffin Bay , located between Baffin Island and the southwest coast of Greenland, is a marginal sea of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is connected to the Atlantic via Davis Strait and the Labrador Sea...
; to the west lies Viscount Melville Sound
Viscount Melville Sound
Viscount Melville Sound is an arm of the Arctic Ocean in Kitikmeot, Nunavut, Canada. Forming part of the Parry Channel, it separates Victoria Island and Prince of Wales Island from the Queen Elizabeth Islands. East of the sound lies Lancaster Sound, leading into Baffin Bay; westward lies the...
. Further west a traveler would enter the McClure Strait
McClure Strait
The M'Clure Strait is a strait on the edge of the Canadian Northwest Territories. It forms the northwestern end of one of the routes through the Northwest Passage. The strait was named for Robert McClure, an Irish Arctic explorer serving in the Royal Navy...
before heading into the Arctic Ocean
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...
.
Lancaster Sound was named in 1616 by explorer William Baffin
William Baffin
William Baffin was an English navigator and explorer. Nothing is known of his early life, but it is conjectured that he was born in London of humble origin, and gradually raised himself by his diligence and perseverance...
for one of the three main financial supporters of his exploratory expeditions. The abortive expedition by the British explorer John Ross
John Ross (Arctic explorer)
Sir John Ross, CB, was a Scottish rear admiral and Arctic explorer.Ross was the son of the Rev. Andrew Ross, minister of Inch, near Stranraer in Scotland. In 1786, aged only nine, he joined the Royal Navy as an apprentice. He served in the Mediterranean until 1789 and then in the English Channel...
in 1818 ended when he saw what he believed were mountains blocking the end of Lancaster Sound. The sound was thoroughly explored during an extensive aerial mapping program of Northern Canada
Northern Canada
Northern Canada, colloquially the North, is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three territories of Canada: Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut...
by the Canadian Government which took from the 1930s until the late 1950s to complete. Coincidentally, the type of aircraft that was used to complete the mapping program was the Avro Lancaster
Avro Lancaster
The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other...
, a World War II heavy bomber which had been converted for mapping.
Geography
Ice cover, both land-fast ice and pack iceSea ice
Sea ice is largely formed from seawater that freezes. Because the oceans consist of saltwater, this occurs below the freezing point of pure water, at about -1.8 °C ....
, is common for nine months of the year. A shore lead
Shore lead
A shore lead is an oceanographic term for a waterway opening between pack ice and shore. While the gap of water may be as narrow as a tide crack if closed by wind or currents, it can be as wide as . Its formation can be influenced by tidal action, or subsurface conditions, such as current and...
system ensures there are ice-free water areas.
Fauna
Wildlife is rich and varied, with an immense amount of Arctic codArctic cod
The Arctic cod is an Arctic deepwater fish related to the true cod .-Names:The fish has several common names, including polar cod and Greenland cod...
(30,000 tons worth) known to exist there. The Arctic cod is also part of the diet for many of the birds in Lancaster Sound and marine mammals. Many narwhal
Narwhal
The narwhal, Monodon monoceros, is a medium-sized toothed whale that lives year-round in the Arctic. One of two living species of whale in the Monodontidae family, along with the beluga whale, the narwhal males are distinguished by a characteristic long, straight, helical tusk extending from their...
, beluga, bowhead whale
Bowhead Whale
The bowhead whale is a baleen whale of the right whale family Balaenidae in suborder Mysticeti. A stocky dark-colored whale without a dorsal fin, it can grow to in length. This thick-bodied species can weigh to , second only to the blue whale, although the bowhead's maximum length is less than...
(an endangered species), ringed
Ringed Seal
The ringed seal , also known as the jar seal and as netsik or nattiq by the Inuit, is an earless seal inhabiting the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions...
, bearded
Bearded Seal
The bearded seal , also called the square flipper seal, is a medium-sized pinniped that is found in and near to the Arctic Ocean. It gets its generic name from two Greek words that refer to its heavy jaw...
and harp seals
Harp Seal
The harp seal or saddleback seal is a species of earless seal native to the northernmost Atlantic Ocean and adjacent parts of the Arctic Ocean. It now belongs to the monotypic genus Pagophilus. Its scientific name, Pagophilus groenlandicus, means "ice-lover from Greenland", and its synonym, Phoca...
, walrus
Walrus
The walrus is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in the Arctic Ocean and sub-Arctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the Odobenidae family and Odobenus genus. It is subdivided into three subspecies: the Atlantic...
, polar bears
Polar Bear
The polar bear is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size...
, thick-billed murres
Brünnich's Guillemot
The Thick-billed Murre or Brünnich's Guillemot is a bird in the auk family . This bird is named after the Danish zoologist Morten Thrane Brünnich...
, Black-legged Kittiwake
Black-legged Kittiwake
The Black-legged Kittiwake is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae.This species was first described by Linnaeus in his Systema naturae in 1758 as Larus tridactylus....
s, northern fulmar
Fulmar
Fulmars are seabirds of the family Procellariidae. The family consists of two extant species and two that are extinct.-Taxonomy:As members of Procellaridae and then the order Procellariiformes, they share certain traits. First, they have nasal passages that attach to the upper bill called...
s, black guillemots
Black Guillemot
The Black Guillemot or Tystie is a medium-sized alcid.Adult birds have black bodies with a white wing patch, a thin dark bill, and red legs and feet. They show white wing linings in flight. In winter, the upperparts are pale grey and the underparts are white. The wings remain black with the large...
, arctic terns
Arctic Tern
The Arctic Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. This bird has a circumpolar breeding distribution covering the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America...
, ivory gull
Ivory Gull
The Ivory Gull Pagophila eburnea is a small gull, the only species in its genus. It breeds in the high arctic and has a circumpolar distribution through Greenland, northernmost North America, and Eurasia.-Taxonomy:...
s and snow geese
Snow Goose
The Snow Goose , also known as the Blue Goose, is a North American species of goose. Its name derives from the typically white plumage. The genus of this bird is disputed...
all occupy the area.
Conservation
In 1974 Norlands Petroleum Ltd is given approval-in-principle to drill an exploratory well in the middle of Lancaster Sound. Community opposition leads to the creation of an Environmental Assessment Review Panel that recommends in 1978 that Norlands proposal not be allowed until they can explain how exploratory drilling was compatible with current and future uses in Lancaster Sound.This area is not yet represented in the Canadian national marine conservation areas systems even though an attempt to do so at the request of local Inuit
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
was made in 1987.
A preliminary Minerals and Energy Resource Assessment to create a National Marine Park is completed in 1989.
On December 8, 2009, Canadian Environment Minister, Jim Prentice
Jim Prentice
James "Jim" Prentice, PC, QC is a Canadian lawyer, and politician. In the 2004 federal election he was elected to the Canadian House of Commons as a candidate of the Conservative Party of Canada...
announced a $5 million feasibility study for a new national marine conservation area (NMCA) in Lancaster Sound.
A National Marine Conservation Area designation precludes oil and gas development, and so questions arose when the Nunavut Impact Review Board approved a NRCAN Geological Survey of Canada proposal to perform seismic testing for oil within Lancaster and Jones Sound in August and September, 2010 . The new seismic tests were not part of the Mineral and Energy Resource Assessment (MERA) process necessary in establishing new parks. In June 2010, communities and groups came out against seismic testing in Lancaster and Jones Sound.
In late June planned seismic tests were apparently scaled back. But then in late July NRCan announced that plans for seismic testing were proceeding despite the unanimous opposition of Inuit communities and supporting organizations.
In a major ruling on Aug 8, 2010 a Nunavut court sided with Inuit and stopped the planned seismic testing citing the risks to marine animals and cultural heritage.
The federal Conservative government announced on December 6, 2010 that it will establish the boundaries of a new marine park in Lancaster Sound.
External links
- Lancaster Sound on the Parks Canada website.
- Lancaster Sound Campaign on the Oceans North Canada website.