Greenlandand the Danish Commonwealth just got a teeny bit bigger . scientist   say they   accidentally   identify the northernmost island on the planet .

Measuring a mere 30 - by-60 metre ( 98 - by-197 feet ) , the yet - to - be - bring up island is 780 meters ( 2,559 foot ) Frederick North of Oodaaq , an island far - northerly Greenland discovered by a Danish survey team in 1978.The breakthrough of this modest but mighty island first came about when an junket from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark latterly headed to the northerly stretch of Greenland to collect sample where they landed on Oodaaq Island — or so they thought .

" We were convinced that we were stand on Oodaaq Island , ” Morten Rasch , expedition loss leader from the University of Copenhagen ’s Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management , said in astatement . “But when I post photos and the island ’s coordinates on social medium , a number of American island hunter went gaga and said that it could n’t be lawful , " explained Rasch .

While the South Pole in Antarctica lies on land , the North Pole is find in the Arctic Ocean in Ethel Waters that arealmost permanently coveredwith shifting sea ice . Oodaaq Island was antecedently hold to   be the tightlipped landmass to the North Pole , at a distance of   705 kilometre ( 438 mile ) , make it the most northern point of land on Earth by some definition . However , it appears this newly found island now takes the lead by less than half a mile

However , it ’s unsealed how long this island might stick around . The island is formed out of Davy Jones mud and moraine , a rocky soil textile pass on behind by a moving glacier . The team suspects it emerged comparatively late after a storm and jerky waves gradually pull up the material from the sea , forming a hill .

Unfortunately , it ’s easy semen , easy go fornewly spring islands . gift its shaky geology , it ’s possible that the island could be wiped out middling easily by a stormy wave . For now , however , Greenlandand the Danish Commonwealth are ever - so - slenderly enceinte than antecedently .

" No one knows how long it will remain . In principle , it could disappear as before long as a powerful unexampled storm hits , " addedRasch .