The Lincoln Sea is a body of water lying within the Arctic Ocean. It spans from Cape Colombia, Canada, in the west to Greenland’s Cape Morris Jessup in the east.
It remains covered with sea ice throughout the year. The ice can be up to 15 m thick, and water depths range from 100 to 300 metres. The ice and water from the Lincoln Sea flow into the Robeson Channel, the northernmost portion of Nares Strait.
It covers an area of approximately 25,000 square miles and has many unique ecological and geological features, which will be discussed in detail.
This article will take you through the 10 interesting facts about this remote and icy body of water that has not been studied much due to the harsh climate and environment it has.
1. Named after Robert Todd Lincoln, U.S Secretary of War
You might think that the Lincoln Sea is named after the 16th President of the U.S, Abraham Lincoln; however, it is not so. It is actually named after the U.S Secretary of War, Robert Todd Lincoln.
The name was given by Adolphus Greeley, a U.S Army officer and a polar explorer during an expedition to the Lincoln Sea undertaken between 1881 and 1884.
Robert Todd Lincoln was a lawyer, military officer, businessman and politician. He was the eldest son of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln. He served as the US Secretary of War and the U.S Ambassador to Great Britain.
Robert was born in Illinois and was a Harvard graduate. He went on to serve on the staff of Ulysses S. Grant as a Union Army captain when the American Civil War was about to end. Seen as a possible candidate for national office, including the presidency, he never took steps to initiate a campaign.
2. Alert is the only populated place on its shore
Alert is Canada’s northernmost station and the only populated region on the shores of the Lincoln Sea. It is situated in the Qikiqtaaluk region of Nunavut and is considered the northernmost continuously inhabited place in the world on Ellesmere Island, 508 miles from the North Pole.
It is named after the British Ship HMS Alert that wintered just 10 km away in 1875 and 1876. Captain George Nares and the crew members were the first Europeans to reach the northern end of Ellesmere Island. In the coming decades, other expeditions also passed through the Lincoln Sea. The most notable among them was the 1909 expedition of Robert Peary, who wanted to reach the North Pole.
All the residents are temporary, serving 3 to 6 months of tours of duty here. There is a military signals intelligence radio receiving facility at the Canadian Forces Station Alert and a co-located weather station, an atmosphere monitoring observatory, and a watch observatory, both operated by Environment and Climate Change Canada and an airport.
3. Wandel Sea lies to the east of Lincoln Sea
Also called the McKinley Sea, the Wandel Sea is a body of water in the Arctic Ocean, spanning from northeast Greenland to Svalbard. It is, however, obstructed by ice for most of the year.
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