Hovgaard Island ( da, Hovgaard Ø) is a large uninhabited island of the Greenland Sea,

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 i ...

. The island was named after

Andreas Hovgaard Andreas Peter Hovgaard (1 November 1853 – 15 March 1910) was a Danish naval officer and Arctic explorer. Hovgaard became a sub-lieutenant of the Danish Navy in 1874, rising to the rank of lieutenant in 1876, captain in 1888 and Commander ...

, a Polar explorer and officer of the

Danish Navy The Royal Danish Navy ( da, Søværnet) is the sea-based branch of the Danish Defence force. The RDN is mainly responsible for maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Danish territorial waters (incl. Faroe Islands and Greenland). Oth ...

who led an expedition to the

Kara Sea The Kara Sea (russian: Ка́рское мо́ре, ''Karskoye more'') is a marginal sea, separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and from the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago. ...

on steamship ''

Dijmphna ''Dijmphna'' was as schooner-rigged steamship, built in 1871 in Sweden and named ''Linköping''. During her first years ''Linköping'' sailed as a merchant in the North Sea and the Baltic but was sold in 1882 to the wealthy coffee trader and b ...

'' in 1882–83.Hovgaard Ø. In: Anthony K. Higgins: ''Exploration history and place names of northern East Greenland.'' Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Bulletin Bd. 21, 2010. Copenhagen 2010, Polar climate prevails in Hovgaard Island. The average annual temperature in the area is -17 °C. The warmest month is July when the average temperature reaches -2 °C and the coldest is February when the temperature sinks to -29 °C.

Geography

Hovgaard Island is a coastal island located to the south of the

Holm Land Holm Land ( da, Holms Land), sometimes referred to as "Hahn Land", is a peninsula in King Frederick VIII Land, northeastern Greenland. Administratively it belongs to the NE Greenland National Park area. This peninsula was named by the 1906-1908 ...

Peninsula. To the west, further inshore, lies smaller Lynn Island and to the east and the southeast the Greenland Sea. The

Dijmphna Sound The Dijmphna Sound ( da, Dijmphna Sund) is a sound in King Frederick VIII Land, Northeast Greenland. Administratively it is part of the Northeast Greenland National Park zone. History The sound was named by the 1906-1908 Denmark expedition after ...

limits the island to the west and north, and to the southwest lies the mouth of the

Nioghalvfjerd Fjord Nioghalvfjerdsbrae (), sometimes referred to as " 79 N Glacier", is a large glacier located in King Frederick VIII Land, northeastern Greenland. It drains an area of of the Greenland Ice Sheet with a flux (quantity of ice moved from the land to ...

of the Nioghalvfjerdsbrae glacier. The island has a length of 60 km and a width of 42 km. Part of the interior is covered by an ice cap.

History

Hovgaard Island was explored and named by the ill-fated Denmark Expedition to the North-East Coast of Greenland in 1906–1908. The northwestern coast of the island was surveyed by

Alfred Wegener Alfred Lothar Wegener (; ; 1 November 1880 – November 1930) was a German climatologist, geologist, geophysicist, meteorologist, and polar researcher. During his lifetime he was primarily known for his achievements in meteorology and ...

in 1907, who at that time put Lynn Island on the map for the first time in history. G. Amdrup: ''Report on the Danmark Expedition to the North-East Coast of Greenland 1906–1908''. In: ''Meddelelser om Grønland''. vol. 41, 1913
pp. 143–147
In 1910

Ejnar Mikkelsen Ejnar Mikkelsen (December 23, 1880 – May 1, 1971) was a Danish polar explorer and author. He is most known for his expeditions to Greenland. Biography Mikkelsen was born in Vester Brønderslev, Jutland. He served in the Georg Carl Amdrup exp ...

and Iver Iversen (1884–1968), two members of the Danish Alabama Expedition struggled against the cold and famine on the island. Mikkelsen wrote the following about this bleak, inhospitable place:

References

Uninhabited islands of Greenland {{Greenland-geo-stub

Geography

History

See also

References