Cape Morris Jesup ( da, Kap Morris Jesup) is a headland in
Peary Land, Greenland.
Geography
Cape Morris Jesup is the northernmost point of mainland
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland ...
. It is from the
geographic North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Mag ...
. It is located in
Johannes V. Jensen Land, about east of the mouth of
Sands Fjord
Sands Fjord is a fjord in Peary Land, northern Greenland. To the north, the fjord opens into the Lincoln Sea of the Arctic Ocean. Administratively it belongs to the Northeast Greenland National Park.
The fjord was named by Robert Peary in honor o ...
and west of
Constable Bay.
The cape marks the limit between the
Lincoln Sea to the west and the
Wandel Sea
The Wandel Sea ( da, Wandelhavet; also known as McKinley Sea) is a body of water in the Arctic Ocean, stretching from northeast of Greenland to Svalbard. It is obstructed by ice most of the year.
This sea is named after Danish polar explorer ...
to the east. About southeast of the cape there is a river forming a small delta that flows from the
Mary Peary Peaks, part of the
Roosevelt Range
The Roosevelt Range or Roosevelt Mountains ( da, Roosevelt Fjelde) is a mountain range in Northern Greenland. Administratively this range is part of the Northeast Greenland National Park. Its highest peak is the highest point in Peary Land.
L ...
to the south.
History
Robert Peary
Robert Edwin Peary Sr. (; May 6, 1856 – February 20, 1920) was an American explorer and officer in the United States Navy who made several expeditions to the Arctic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known for, in Apri ...
reached the cape on 13 May 1900, believing it to be the
northernmost point of land in the world, although it was later found to lie slightly to the south of the northernmost tip of
Kaffeklubben Island. The cape is named after American philanthropist
Morris Ketchum Jesup, president of the
Peary Arctic Club
The Peary Arctic Club was an American-based club with the goal of promoting the Arctic expeditions of Robert Peary (1856–1920).
This association of influential persons was able to overcome the opposition of the U.S. Navy Department to grant ...
, who helped finance Peary's expeditions.
Plants
Specimens of
Arctic Poppy and
Purple Saxifrage
''Saxifraga oppositifolia'', the purple saxifrage or purple mountain saxifrage, is a species of plant that is very common in the high Arctic and also some high mountainous areas further south, including northern Britain, the Alps and the Rocky ...
have been found growing in the thin, rocky soil.
Cape Morris Jesup is practically a
polar desert
Polar deserts are the regions of Earth that fall under an ice cap climate (''EF'' under the Köppen classification). Despite rainfall totals low enough to normally classify as a desert, polar deserts are distinguished from true deserts (' or ' un ...
with roughly 30-day summers. Despite these extremely inhospitable conditions, these two tiny flowering plants eek out a meager existence and persist blooming through summer lows in the high 20’s Fahrenheit.
See also
*
List of northernmost items
References
Morris Jesup
Peary Land
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