Champ Island

Champ Island (Russian: Остров Чамп; Ostrov Champ) is an island in the central area of Franz Josef Land, Russia.

Champ Island
Russian: Остров Чамп
Landscape of the island with a concretion.
Location of Champ Island in the Franz Josef Archipelago
Geography
LocationArctic
Coordinates80.6739°N 56.2369°E / 80.6739; 56.2369
ArchipelagoZichy Land
Franz Josef Archipelago
Area374 km2 (144 sq mi)
Highest elevation507 m (1663 ft)
Administration
Demographics
Population0

History

This island was named after William S. Champ,[1][2][3] who was the representative of the late William Ziegler and leader of the relief operation searching for Anthony Fiala of the Fiala-Ziegler Polar Expedition.[4]

A piece of a century-year-old ski was found in Champ Island, at Cape Trieste (Mys Triest) in August 2006.[5]

Geography

Champ Island has a surface of 374 km2 (144 sq mi) and a shoreline of 90.6 km (297,244 ft). There is a wide unglacierized zone in the southwest of the island. The highest point of the island is 507 m (1,663 ft).[6]

Champ Island is the southernmost island of the Zichy Land subgroup of the Franz Joseph Archipelago. It is separated by narrow sounds from Luigi Island in the north and Salisbury Island in the northeast.

The broad channel in the west of Champ Island is known as Markham Channel (Пролив маркама; Proliv Markama), after British polar explorer Admiral Sir Albert Hastings Markham.

The island is known by its concretions, stone spheres with dimensions from millimetres to several meters.[7]

Various islands of central Franz Josef Land - NASA Earth Observatory
Stone sphere in Champ Island

See also

References
  1. NY Times - May, 14 1904
  2. NY Times - May, 5 1904
  3. The Papers of M. Frederick Mount in the Dartmouth College Library
  4. Anthony Fiala: Fighting the Polar Ice. Doubleday, Page & co., New York 1907, p. 193
  5. Ski fragment
  6. UNEP - Islands
  7. Friedhelm Thiedig: Fahrt zum Geografischen Nordpol und zum Franz Josef Land (2005) – mit Beschreibung der Klagenfurt Inseln und der auffällig großen Steinkugeln östlich Kap Fiume auf Champ Island (FJL) (PDF; 11,2 MB). In: Carinthia II 196/116(1), 2006, pp. 9–32


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