Lütje Hörn is an uninhabited East Frisian Island in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian ...

. It belongs to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

and is located approximately southeast of

Borkum Borkum ( nds, Borkum, Börkum) is an island and a municipality in the Leer District in Lower Saxony, northwestern Germany. It is situated east of Rottumeroog and west of Juist. Geography Borkum is bordered to the west by the Westerems strait ...

in the

East Frisia East Frisia or East Friesland (german: Ostfriesland; ; stq, Aastfräislound) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia ...

n Randzelwatt. Lütje Hörn is an

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either hav ...

of Leer district in

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

History

''Lütje Hörn'' was first mentioned in 1576 as ''Hooghe Hörn'' in a sailing guide. Since 1859 the island has been shown in

topographical map In modern mapping, a topographic map or topographic sheet is a type of map characterized by large- scale detail and quantitative representation of relief features, usually using contour lines (connecting points of equal elevation), but histori ...

s on the mudflats (''Watt'') southeast of Borkum.

Geography

In contrast to all other East Frisian islands, Lütje Hörn is aligned in a north-south direction. This is due to the location of the island in the eastern channel of the Ems. Since the first documentary records the location of the island has moved about two kilometres further to the southeast. In just under 40 years, between 1961 and 1999, the island shifted about east and south. This corresponds to a speed of per year eastwards and per year southwards. Between 1999 and 2005, the island continued to migrate eastwards by another . Due to

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is d ...

Lütje Hörn has continuously lost surface area. The size of the island was still relatively stable in the first half of last century: in 1891 it had an area of and, in 1937, . In 1957 the high-water free area was still , including about one acre of large dunes. The storm surge of February 1962 caused a significant loss of land and dune erosion, and further losses were incurred by the winter storm surges of 1989/1990. In 1987, the area above the mean high-water mark was only , a few years later it had reduced to just . According to the Lower Saxon Department for Water, Coastal and Nature Conservation (NLWKN), Lütje Hörn had a flood-free area of approximately in summer 2006.Wattenrat.de: ’’Inseln und Platen durch Stürme abrasiert’’
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Access

The island can only be visited with the approval of the National Park Administration, because it belongs to Zone I of the

Wadden Sea National Parks The Wadden Sea National Parks in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands are located along the German Bight of the North Sea. In Germany and Denmark they also mark the area of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Wadden Sea. Divided from each other ...

and is a bird protection island. There are no buildings on the island.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lutje Horn East Frisian Islands Uninhabited islands of Germany Islands of Lower Saxony Unincorporated areas of Germany