Axel Heiberg Island

43,178 km² rising to 2,210 m out of the Northwest Passage.

N 20 km

BeachesPeaksLakes

Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.

In numbers

43,178km²

Area

2,610km

Coastline

measured on a simplified outline

2,210m

Highest point

Outlook Peak

People

0°C

Warmest sea

August

681km

To the mainland

When to go to Axel Heiberg Island

Best to visit from December to April.

The sea is warmest in August (0 °C) and coolest in February (-2 °C). The water never reaches 21 °C: bring a wetsuit.

-2°-30°-34°

Jan3

-2°-31°-35°

Feb3

-2°-29°-34°

Mar4

-2°-21°-27°

Apr4

-2°-10°-14°

May7

-1°-1°-4°

Jun13

-1°4°1°

Jul14

0°0°-4°

Aug15

-1°-10°-13°

Sep12

-1°-18°-21°

Oct10

-2°-24°-28°

Nov5

-2°-27°-32°

Dec4

Sea temperature (the water level) Air: night low to afternoon high Wet days Best months

Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.

Island in Nunavut, Canada

Axel Heiberg Island is an island in Canada. It belongs to Canadian Arctic Archipelago. It covers 43,178 km², with 2,610 km of coastline. Its highest point, Outlook Peak, rises to 2,210 m. About 8 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 681 km away.

Getting there

681 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast
From December to Aprilbest months to go (from 30 years of averages)

Plan the trip

Ferries, stays and things to do

Car hire at YZF airport (Yellowknife)Discover CarsSee

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

On the island

What you find on Axel Heiberg Island.

52beaches
86named peaksOutlook Peak, White Crown Mountain, The Two Craters and 83 more

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.

Cross-checked with our atlases

Axel Heiberg Island in our other atlases

Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Axel Heiberg Island, each with its own numbers.

1beachCoastya
5lakesLakeyas

Largest lake
15.7km²
Buchanan Lake
according to Lakeyas
Beach with the warmest sea
0.4°C
Sherwood Beach
sea in the warmest month · according to Coastya

1 beaches

on Coastya, the beach atlas

Sherwood Beach0.4°C

Open Coastya ↗

5 lakes

on Lakeyas, the lake atlas

Buchanan Lake15.7km²
Jaeger Lake1.0km²
Astro Lake0.58km²
Plateau Lake0.56km²
Greenstone Lake0.41km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

Size, for real

Next to islands you may know.

Axel Heiberg Island43,178 km²

Ireland83,069 km²

Iceland101,695 km²

200 km

All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).

Month by month

The weather on the island.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Afternoon high (°C)	-30	-31	-29	-21	-10	-1	4	0	-10	-18	-24	-27
Night low (°C)	-34	-35	-34	-27	-14	-4	1	-4	-13	-21	-28	-32
Sea (°C)	-2	-2	-2	-2	-2	-1	-1	0	-1	-1	-2	-2
Rain (mm)	13	11	13	15	20	44	53	58	38	32	16	15
Wet days	3	3	4	4	7	13	14	15	12	10	5	4
Sun h/day	—	1.5	4.7	12.9	16.4	14.0	10.3	6.4	4.5	2.1	—	—
Wind (km/h)	11	10	10	10	9	10	10	10	9	10	10	10

Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.

Recent years

Warmer and cooler years at sea.

Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2020	+0.1	+0.2	+0.1	+0.1	+0.1	−0.2	−0.6	−0.7	−0.5	−0.1	+0.1	+0.1
2021	+0.1	+0.2	+0.1	+0.1	+0.1	−0.3	−0.6	−0.9	−0.6	−0.1	+0.1	+0.1
2022	+0.1	+0.2	+0.1	+0.1	+0.1	−0.3	−0.6	−0.8	−0.3	−0.1	+0.1	+0.1
2023	+0.1	+0.2	+0.1	+0.1	+0.1	−0.3	−0.6	−0.6	−0.3	−0.1	+0.1	+0.1
2024	+0.1	+0.2	+0.1	+0.1	+0.1	−0.3	−0.6	−0.5	−0.2	±0.0	+0.1	+0.1
2025	+0.1	+0.2	+0.2	+0.2	+0.2	−0.1	−0.5	−0.5	−0.4	±0.0	+0.2	+0.2

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

Photos

Seen by visitors.

Axel Heiberg Island 01 — Matti&Keti [email protected] · CC BY-SA 4.0

Axel Heiberg Island 06 — Matti&Keti ; [email protected] · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tilted Rock Layers on Axel Heiberg Island in Nunavut in Canada — Penny Higgins (paleololigo on Flickr) https://www.flickr.com/photos/paleololigo/ · CC BY-SA 2.0

Axel Heiberg Island 07 — Matti&Keti [email protected] · CC BY-SA 4.0

Nearby

More islands nearby.

Meighen Island

Canada924 km²262 m168 km away

Amund Ringnes Island

Canada5,255 km²74 m195 km away

Ellesmere Island

Canada196,235 km²2,616 m256 km away

Cornwall Island

Canada2,256 km²349 m250 km away

Ellef Ringnes Island

Canada11,295 km²266 m273 km away

Graham Island

Canada1,367 km²186 m260 km away

King Christian Island

Canada649 km²165 m316 km away

North Kent Island

Canada587 km²600 m343 km away

About these numbers

Names, area, population	Wikidata (Q207666) · CC0
Outline	Natural Earth · public domain
Sea temperature	NOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020
Climate	NASA POWER · 1991–2020
Relief, 3D model	Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails	© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Towns	GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Images	EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfalls	Coastya, Lakeyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST; HydroLAKES (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0, LakeTEMP (Korver et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

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