In 1976, Canadian cartographer Betty Flemming was reviewing imagery captured by the Landsat 1 satellite when she noticed something unusual: several tiny white specks that appeared in the same location across multiple images.
The features could easily have been mistaken for clouds, sea ice, or image artifacts. Instead, Flemming took a closer look. Her observation led to the discovery of a previously unmapped island off the coast of Labrador, Canada.
The island, later named Landsat Island, added a new landmass to Canada’s geography and extended the country’s territorial waters. Confirming the discovery would eventually require a researcher to be lowered onto the barren rock by helicopter, where he was greeted by an unexpected resident: a polar bear.
How Landsat Island Was Discovered
Landsat Island was named after the satellite that first revealed its existence. The Landsat program, initiated in 1972, is the longest-running satellite-based Earth observation program and has been used to map and monitor Earth’s surface for more than five decades.
As part of a Canadian effort to use Landsat imagery to improve coastal mapping, Flemming examined images of Newfoundland and Labrador for uncharted hazards and geographic features.
Looking more closely at the imagery, Flemming determined that the white flecks remained fixed while clouds and sea ice shifted. Although the feature appeared as little more than a single bright pixel in the Landsat imagery, its consistent location and reflectance convinced her that it represented land.
Flemming passed her observations to the Canadian Hydrographic Survey Division, which sent out the CCS Baffin to investigate. One of the locations turned out to be a previously unmapped island that would later be named Landsat Island.
Located at 60° 10′ 37″N, 64° 02′ 30″W off the northern coast of Labrador, the island is a barren rock measuring roughly 25 meters by 45 meters, or about half the size of a football field. Situated in the rough waters of the Labrador Sea, it had escaped notice despite lying only about 20 kilometers from the mainland coast.
Verifying Landsat Island
One reason Landsat Island remained undiscovered for so long was its inaccessibility. Although it lies only 20 kilometers from the Canadian coast, approaching the island was difficult due to rough seas, sea ice, and the lack of suitable landing locations. The island contains no vegetation and is little more than a barren rock in the Labrador Sea.
To verify the satellite’s discovery, researcher Dr. Frank Hall was lowered from a helicopter onto the island. He was met with a frozen landscape and, to his surprise, a polar bear waiting for him.
Given the island’s tiny size, the encounter was uncomfortably close.
Scott Reid later recounted the story during a session of Canada’s Parliament:
[Dr. Hall] “was strapped into a harness and lowered from a helicopter down to the island. This was quite a frozen island and it was completely covered with ice. As he was lowered out of the helicopter a polar bear took a swat at him. The bear was on the highest point on the island and it was hard for him to see because it was white. Hall yanked at the cable and got himself hauled up. He said he very nearly became the first person to end his life on Landsat Island.”
Having confirmed the island’s existence, Hall quickly signaled to be lifted back into the helicopter and away from the island’s unexpected resident.
Why the discovery of Landsat Island is important
While Landsat Island is small, its discovery was significant for two reasons.
First, it demonstrated that satellite technology of the era could detect even very small landforms. The island’s identification helped refine maps of the Arctic region and improve navigational charts for explorers, scientists, and vessels operating in these waters.
Second, Landsat Island marks the most easterly point along the northern coast of Labrador. Its discovery extended Canada’s territorial waters by approximately 68 square kilometers.
During the same period, Landsat imagery helped identify and clarify other coastal features throughout northern Canada, improving the accuracy of maps and nautical charts.
Capturing clear imagery of Landsat Island remains difficult. The Labrador Sea is frequently obscured by clouds during the summer and sea ice during the winter. Because of its small size, the island occupies only a handful of pixels in Landsat imagery.
What began as a few white specks noticed by Betty Flemming ultimately led to the discovery of a previously unmapped island and a memorable encounter between a researcher and a polar bear. The discovery also demonstrated how satellite imagery could improve maps of some of the world’s most remote regions.
References
Gray, D. H. (2000). Discovering Rocks off Labrador: A Photo Essay. IBRU Boundary and Security Bulletin.
Patel, K. (2018, April 9). The island named after a satellite. NASA Earth Observatory. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/91972/the-island-named-after-a-satellite
Patel, K. (2018, August 22). Earth matters. NASA Earth Observatory. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/2018/08/22/the-unsung-woman-who-discovered-the-unknown-island/
Rocchio, L. (2006, April 19). Landsat Island. NASA
