Jeannette Island

Jeannette Island (; ) is the easternmost island of the De Long Islands archipelago in the East Siberian Sea. Administratively it belongs to Yakutia of the Russian Federation.

Geography 
Jeannette is the second smallest island of the De Long group, being only  in length. It has an area of approximately . The island surface is mainly covered by a central ice cap and firn. The highest peak of the island is in the middle of the ice cap, reaching a height of .

Geology 
Jeannette Island consists of folded Paleozoic graywackes overlain by Cenozoic conglomerates. The graywacke is coarse-grained and contains local lenses of conglomerate. An unconformity separates the Cenozoic conglomerate from the underlying graywacke. The Cenozoic conglomerate contains well-rounded pebbles, cobbles, and boulders of quartz sandstone, quartzite, diorite, andesite-basalts, and altered granite.

History
It was discovered in 1881 by the Jeannette Expedition, commanded by Lieutenant Commander George W. De Long. The expedition set out in 1879 aboard the , hoping to reach Wrangel Island and to discover open seas in the Arctic Ocean near the North Pole.

However, the ship entered an ice pack near Herald Island in September 1879 and became trapped. The vessel drifted several hundred miles with the ice, passing north of Wrangel Island. In May 1881 it approached Jeannette Island and Henrietta Island.

According to The Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy, for the Year 1882, "A sled party landed, hoisted the national ensign, and took possession in the name of the United States. The excursion, led by George W. Melville, landed on June 2 or 3, constructed a cairn, and placed inside it a record of their visit.

During the Imperial Russian Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition of 1910–1915 led by Boris Vilkitsky, the Vaygach approached Jeannette Island with the intention of mapping Jeannette and Henrietta Islands, but heavy ice blocked the approach. In 1916 the Russian ambassador in London issued an official notice to the effect that the Imperial government considered Henrietta, along with other Arctic islands, integral parts of the Russian Empire. This territorial claim was later maintained by the Soviet Union.

Some U.S. individuals assert American ownership of Jeannette Island, and others of the De Long group, based on the 1881 discovery. However, the United States government has not pursued De Long's claim to Jeannette Island, and recognizes it as Russian territory.

References

External links
 Anisimov, M.A., and V.E. Tumskoy, 2002, Environmental History of the Novosibirskie Islands for the last 12 ka. 32nd International Arctic Workshop, Program and Abstracts 2002. Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado at Boulder, pp 23–25.
 Headland, R. K.,1994, OSTROVA DE-LONGA ('De Long Islands'), Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
 Naval Historical Center, 2003, Jeannette Arctic Expedition, 1879-1881 — Overview and Selected Images. Last visited May 26, 2008.
 Schirrmeister, L., H.-W. Hubberten, V. Rachold, and V.G. Grosse, 2005, Lost world - Late Quaternary environment of periglacial Arctic shelves and coastal lowlands in NE-Siberia.  2nd International Alfred Wegener Symposium Bremerhaven, October, 30 - November 2, 2005.
 The Mysterious Disappearance of Jeannette Island (on Google Maps)

Category:De Long Islands
Category:Islands of the East Siberian Sea
Category:Islands of the Sakha Republic