Cape Chidley Cape Chudleigh | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 60°22′40″N64°26′02″W / 60.37778°N 64.43389°W [1] | |
Country | Canada |
Territory/Province | Nunavut/Newfoundland and Labrador |
Elevation | 350 m (1,150 ft) |
Time zone | UTC−04:00 (AST) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC−03:00 (ADT) |
Cape Chidley is a headland located on the eastern shore of Killiniq Island, Canada, at the northeastern tip of the Labrador Peninsula.
Cape Chidley was named by English explorer John Davis on August 1, 1587, after his friend and fellow explorer John Chidley. [3] On October 22, 1943, the German submarine U-537 landed just south of Cape Chidley and set up Weather Station Kurt to collect data about the weather.
In the original plans for the Pinetree Line (a series of radar stations along the 50th parallel north), Cape Chidley was meant to be the site for a long-range radar station called "N-30." Supplies were moved to the site by ship during 1951–52, but in late 1952–early 1953 the site was moved to Resolution Island. [4]
Sometimes spelled Cape Chudleigh, Cape Chidley is on the short boundary between the province of Newfoundland and Labrador and the territory of Nunavut on Killiniq Island. It forms the northernmost point of Labrador.
The Dominion of Newfoundland, having been a separate country at the time that Canada's Arctic islands were assigned in this manner, shared a boundary with Canada on Killiniq Island. The territory of Labrador included the entire Atlantic watershed of the Labrador Peninsula and its islands.
The northern and western part of Killiniq Island (under Nunavut's jurisdiction) drains into Ungava Bay and the Hudson Strait. Thus Cape Chidley is also the terminus of the Laurentian Divide, which separates the Arctic Ocean watershed from the Atlantic Ocean watershed. (Some sources include Hudson Bay in the Atlantic Ocean watershed, though the Laurentian Divide has been long established and places Hudson Bay with the Arctic Ocean watershed.) The cape marks the south end of the entrance to the Hudson Strait, opposite Resolution Island.
The closest community to Cape Chidley was Port Burwell, Nunavut, until it was evacuated in 1978. Killiniq Island itself is separated from mainland North America by the narrow McLelan Strait.
The Torngat Mountains run along the coast of Labrador and terminate at Killiniq Island. The top of the knoll forming the headland at Cape Chidley has an elevation of 350 m (1,150 ft), making the cape considerably higher than either of its two flanking headlands.
The Cape Chidley Islands lie at the north end of the cape.
The Hudson Strait links the Atlantic Ocean and the Labrador Sea to Hudson Bay in Canada. This strait lies between Baffin Island and Nunavik, with its eastern entrance marked by Cape Chidley in Newfoundland and Labrador and Resolution Island off Baffin Island. The strait is about 750 km long with an average width of 125 km, varying from 70 km at the eastern entrance to 240 km at Deception Bay.
Labrador is a geographic and cultural region within the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is the primarily continental portion of the province and constitutes 71% of the province's area but is home to only 6% of its population. It is separated from the island of Newfoundland by the Strait of Belle Isle. It is the largest and northernmost geographical region in the four Atlantic provinces.
The Gulf of St. Lawrence is the outlet of the North American Great Lakes via the St. Lawrence River into the Atlantic Ocean. The gulf is a semi-enclosed sea, covering an area of about 226,000 square kilometres (87,000 sq mi) and containing about 34,500 cubic kilometres (8,300 cu mi) of water, at an average depth of 152 metres (500 ft).
Davis Strait is a northern arm of the Atlantic Ocean that lies north of the Labrador Sea. It lies between mid-western Greenland and Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada. To the north is Baffin Bay. The strait was named for the English explorer John Davis (1550–1605), who explored the area while seeking a Northwest Passage. By the 1650s it was used for whale hunting.
The Labrador Sea is an arm of the North Atlantic Ocean between the Labrador Peninsula and Greenland. The sea is flanked by continental shelves to the southwest, northwest, and northeast. It connects to the north with Baffin Bay through the Davis Strait. It is a marginal sea of the Atlantic.
The Torngat Mountains are a mountain range on the Labrador Peninsula at the northern tip of Newfoundland and Labrador and eastern Quebec. They are part of the Arctic Cordillera. The mountains form a peninsula that separates Ungava Bay from the Atlantic Ocean.
Resolution Island is one of the many uninhabited Canadian Arctic islands in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut. It is a Baffin Island offshore island located in Davis Strait. It has an area of 1,015 km2 (392 sq mi). The Lower Savage Islands lie between Resolution Island and Baffin Island, while Graves Strait separates Resolution Island from the more northern Edgell Island.
The Hudson Bay drainage basin is the drainage basin in northern North America where surface water empties into Hudson Bay and adjoining waters. Spanning an area of about 3,861,400 square kilometres (1,490,900 sq mi), the basin is almost totally in Canada, with a small portion in the United States . The watershed's connection to the Labrador Sea is at the Hudson Strait's mouth between Resolution Island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region and Cape Chidley on the Labrador Peninsula. The watershed's headwaters to the south-west are on the Continental Divide of the Americas, bounded at Triple Divide Peak to the south, and Snow Dome to the north. The western and northern boundary of the watershed is the Arctic Divide, and the southern and eastern boundary is the Laurentian Divide.
Killiniq Island is a remote island in southeastern Nunavut and northern Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Located at the extreme northern tip of Labrador between Ungava Bay and the Labrador Sea, it is notable in that it contains the only land border between Nunavut and Newfoundland and Labrador. Most other islands off the northern coast of Quebec and Labrador belong exclusively to Nunavut. Some cartographic sources do not correctly show the island's geopolitical boundaries; for instance, the Commission de toponymie du Québec seems to show it as belonging to Quebec.
The Laurentian Divide also called the Northern Divide and locally the height of land, is a continental divide in central North America that separates the Hudson Bay watershed to the north from the Gulf of Mexico watershed to the south and the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence watershed to the southeast.
The Hudson Complex is a marine ecoregion in Canada, part of the Arctic marine realm.
The Northwest Atlantic Marine Ecozone, as defined by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), is a Canadian marine ecozone forming a transitional region between the cold northern waters of the Arctic Ocean and the more temperate waters in its southern extent.
A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not connected to the open sea. Every continent on earth except Antarctica has at least one continental drainage divide; islands, even small ones like Killiniq Island on the Labrador Sea in Canada, may also host part of a continental divide or have their own island-spanning divide. The endpoints of a continental divide may be coastlines of gulfs, seas or oceans, the boundary of an endorheic basin, or another continental divide. One case, the Great Basin Divide, is a closed loop around an endoreic basin. The endpoints where a continental divide meets the coast are not always definite since the exact border between adjacent bodies of water is usually not clearly defined. The International Hydrographic Organization's publication Limits of Oceans and Seas defines exact boundaries of oceans, but it is not universally recognized. Where a continental divide meets an endorheic basin, such as the Great Divide Basin of Wyoming, the continental divide splits and encircles the basin. Where two divides intersect, they form a triple divide, or a tripoint, a junction where three watersheds meet.
The Cape Chidley Islands are members of the Arctic Archipelago in the territory of Nunavut. They are located in the Labrador Sea at the south end of the entrance to the Hudson Strait, north of Killiniq Island's Cape Chidley, and separated from Killiniq Island by the MacGregor Strait.
A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape. Headlands are characterised by high, breaking waves, rocky shores, intense erosion, and steep sea cliff.
Bush Island is a small, remote island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. It is located in Hudson Strait, 9.5 mi (15.3 km) off the north end of Killiniq Island, separated by Port Harvey, a small bay. It measures 2.5 mi (4.0 km) long and 1.2 mi (1.9 km) wide. The elevation is approximately 152 m (499 ft) above sea level.
Killiniq is a former Inuit settlement, weather station, trading post, missionary post, fishing station, and Royal Canadian Mounted Police post on Killiniq Island. Previously within Labrador, and then the Northwest Territories, it is now situated within the borders of Nunavut. The community closed in 1978.
Port Burwell is a harbour on western Killiniq Island, formed as an arm of Ungava Bay, at the mouth of Hudson Strait. Previously within Labrador, and then the Northwest Territories, it is now situated within the borders of Nunavut, Canada. Cape Chidley is 25 miles (40 km) to the northeast. The community of Port Burwell lies on the shore at 60°25′30″N64°50′00″W.
CFS Resolution Island (BAF-5) is a short-range radar site. It is located 593 miles (954 km) north-northwest of CFB Goose Bay, Labrador on Resolution Island, Nunavut. It is part of the North Warning System. During the Cold War, it was operated as part of the Pinetree Line network controlled by NORAD.