Melville Island
- MODIS image
- date unknown
Located at the southwestern corner of the Queen Elizabeth Islands group, Melville Island is situated 36 km west, across the Byam Martin Channel, from the Bathurst Island group and 23 km southeast, across the Fitzwilliam Strait, from Prince Patrick Island. To the south, the wide McClure Strait and Viscount Melville Sound separate it from the islands of the low Arctic region: Banks Island (partially visible at the bottom-left corner of the image) is 102 km to the southwest and Victoria Island 122 km to the south. At 42,149 km² in area Melville Island ranks as the 8th largest of Canada's Arctic islands.
Melville Island has a highly irregular outline formed by several large peninsulas and bays. Of the latter, the wide Hecla & Griper Bay (on the north) and the narrow Liddon Gulf (on the southwest) do much to give the island its characteristic shape. These inlets create three great peninsula features: the Sabine Peninsula (on the northeast), the Dundas Peninsula (on the southwest) and the heavily indented northwestern sections of the island. Melville Island has a maximum east to west width of 340 km and a maximum of 212 km from north to south.
Terrain on the island can be divided into three broad topographic zones: a southwestern plateau, a varied central region of uplands and a lowland region in the northeast.
image: MODIS rapid response project at nasa/goddard space flight center
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