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How two new islands were discovered

In July, 1996, the members of the Top-of-the-World-Expedition attempted to locate Oodaag Island which had been determined to be the world's northernmost point of land. This tiny island is 35 feet in diameter, and about four feet above sea level. Although the Danish army's Sled Patrol Sirius passes this location every winter, the island had not been sighted for many years. This led to the belief that the island was hidden under a snow cover or a sheet of ice.

The Top-of-the-World-Expedition members first hiked from the mainland, over the melting sea ice, to Kaffeklubben Island . From here they fanned out and searched through the melt-water pools and snow drifts that covered the ice north of Kaffeklubben. Hours later, an expedition member spotted a single rock sticking out of a melt-water pool. It was resting on a gravel bar a few inches beneath the surface of the water.

Everyone on the team believed that most of Oodaag Island was submerged under a melt water pool. that had dammed up by surrounding snowdrifts. When two expedition members revisited the island three days later, a thaw hole in the ice had drained the water from the melt-water pool and the island had reemerged.

However, years later it became clear that neither the GPS coordinates nor the photographs of the island matched those of Oodaag Island. To everybody's surprise the members of the Top Of the World Expedition had accidentally discovered a new island slightly north of Oodaag Island. Once more Ultima Thule had been moved a step farther north.

Peter Skafte standing by the 1996 island Click to Enlarge

In 1998, Peter Skafte photographed another Island two miles farther north, during an aerial reconnaissance.

On July 6, 2003, a team of six people including, Mara Boland, Marylyn Gianatti, Ans Hoefnagel, Frank Landsberger, Dennis Schmitt, and Peter Skafte, located the island close to Latitude 83 42 North, after hiking through the melting sea-ice for 10 hours.

The 2003 Ultima Thule. The coastline of Greenland can be seen in the background. Click to Enlarge

Aerial photo of island 10 days later. Notice the edge of the ice-shelf in the background. Click to Enlarge

Table showing islands and the date they were first visited.