Skip to content
islandyas
EN

Canada CanadaCanadian Arctic ArchipelagoIsland

Ellef Ringnes Island

11,295 km² of land in the Northwest Passage.

When to go

Ellef Ringnes Island seen from space, cut out from the sea (Sentinel-2)
N 20 km

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

In numbers

11,295km²

Area

867km

Coastline

measured on a simplified outline

266m

Highest point

Isachsen Dome

0

People

-1°C

Warmest sea

July

648km

To the mainland

When to go to Ellef Ringnes Island

Best to visit from December to April.

The sea is warmest in July (-1 °C) and coolest in January (-2 °C). The water never reaches 21 °C: bring a wetsuit.

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

Ellef Ringnes Island is an island in Canada. It belongs to Canadian Arctic Archipelago. It covers 11,295 km², with 867 km of coastline. Its highest point, Isachsen Dome, rises to 266 m. Nobody lives on it. The nearest mainland is 648 km away.

Read more on Wikipedia

Getting there

  • 648 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

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 Ellef Ringnes Island.

  • 3beaches
  • 16named peaksCastle Hill, The Sabot, Pyramid Hill and 13 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

Ellef Ringnes Island in our other atlases

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

  • 1beachCoastya
  • 2lakesLakeyas
  • Largest lake

    1.2km²

    Black Lake

    according to Lakeyas

  • Beach with the warmest sea

    -0.4°C

    Bowl Cove

    sea in the warmest month · according to Coastya

1 beaches

on Coastya, the beach atlas

  1. Bowl Covecove-0.4°C

Open Coastya ↗

2 lakes

on Lakeyas, the lake atlas

  1. Black Lake1.2km²
  2. Rat Lake0.12km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

The shape of the land.

On average the island stands 59 m above the sea. 100 % of it is below 200 m.

  • 50 %0–50 m
  • 49 %50–200 m
  • <1 %200–500 m

Share of the island's area in each altitude band, from the Copernicus DEM (30 m, read at 30–240 m on large islands).

Size, for real

Next to islands you may know.

Ellef Ringnes Island11,295 km²
Sicily25,615 km²
Jamaica11,068 km²

100 km

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

Month by month

The weather on the island.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Afternoon high (°C)-26-27-25-17-6142-6-14-20-24
Night low (°C)-31-32-30-22-10-11-1-9-18-24-28
Sea (°C)-2-2-2-2-2-1-1-1-1-2-2-2
Rain (mm)151317172028434635271717
Wet days335468101310754
Sun h/day—0.81.48.99.09.47.53.91.71.1——
Wind (km/h)211919191817171718181920

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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
2020+0.1+0.1+0.1+0.1±0.0−0.3−0.9−0.8−0.5−0.1+0.1+0.1
2021+0.1+0.1+0.1+0.1±0.0−0.3−0.9−0.8−0.6−0.1+0.1+0.1
2022+0.1+0.1+0.1+0.1±0.0−0.3−0.9−0.9−0.6−0.1+0.1+0.1
2023+0.1+0.1+0.1+0.1±0.0−0.3−0.9−0.8−0.5−0.1+0.1+0.1
2024+0.1+0.1+0.1+0.1±0.0−0.3−0.9−0.8−0.5±0.0+0.1+0.1
2025+0.1+0.1+0.1+0.1±0.0−0.2−0.8−0.7−0.4±0.0+0.2+0.2

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

About these numbers

Names, area, populationWikidata (Q215001) · CC0
OutlineNatural Earth · public domain
Sea temperatureNOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020
ClimateNASA POWER · 1991–2020
Relief, 3D modelCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
TownsGeoNames · CC BY 4.0
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfallsCoastya, 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

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.You are here
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit