Canada
Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.
In numbers
41,214km²
Area
1,536km
Coastline
measured on a simplified outline
834
People
5°C
Warmest sea
August
35km
To the mainland
When to go to Southampton Island
Good all year round.
The sea is warmest in August (5 °C) and coolest in February (-2 °C). The water never reaches 21 °C: bring a wetsuit.
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
Southampton Island is an island in Canada. It belongs to Canadian Arctic Archipelago. It covers 41,214 km², with 1,536 km of coastline. About 834 people live on it. The nearest mainland is 35 km away.
Getting there
- Coral Harbour Airport (YZS)airport on the island, with scheduled flightsCar hire at YMT airport (Chibougamau)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- 35 km from the mainlanddistance to the nearest continental coast
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 Southampton Island.
- 1,633beaches
- 1lighthouses
- 24named peaksSouthampton Island H.P., Qakutajaq Hill, The Shoulder and 21 more
- 2waterfalls
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
Southampton Island in our other atlases
Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Southampton Island, each with its own numbers.
2beaches and covesCoastya
12lakesLakeyas
Largest lake
134km²
Hansine Lake
according to Lakeyas
Warmest lake
13.7°C
Ivitaarulialaaq Lake
surface water, warmest month · according to Lakeyas
Beach with the warmest sea
6.7°C
Anchor Cove
sea in the warmest month · according to Coastya
12 lakes
on Lakeyas, the lake atlas
- Hansine Lake134km²
- Qalunilik Lake17.9km²
- Tasialuk Lake12.8km²
- Naluajuq Lake11.5km²
- Ikkatujualuk Lake11.0km²
- Uiguqlialuk Lake7.1km²
- Teshikalik Lake6.9km²
- Ivitaarulialaaq Lake1.9km²
4 more on LakeyasLakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Size, for real
Next to islands you may know.
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) | -26 | -26 | -19 | -10 | -3 | 6 | 13 | 10 | 3 | -4 | -14 | -22 |
| Night low (°C) | -32 | -33 | -28 | -19 | -9 | -1 | 5 | 3 | -2 | -10 | -20 | -28 |
| Sea (°C) | -1 | -2 | -2 | -1 | -1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 0 | -1 | -1 |
| Rain (mm) | 17 | 14 | 21 | 30 | 49 | 58 | 62 | 80 | 68 | 60 | 38 | 23 |
| Wet days | 5 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 14 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 9 | 7 |
| Sun h/day | 1.5 | 5.0 | 9.8 | 14.5 | 14.1 | 10.4 | 9.3 | 6.5 | 3.8 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 1.2 |
| Wind (km/h) | 17 | 16 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 18 |
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 | −0.2 | −0.1 | −0.1 | −0.2 | −0.5 | −0.1 | +2.3 | +2.3 | +1.3 | +1.0 | −0.1 | −0.3 |
| 2021 | −0.2 | −0.1 | −0.1 | −0.2 | −0.6 | −0.7 | −0.1 | −1.5 | −0.5 | +1.1 | ±0.0 | −0.3 |
| 2022 | −0.2 | −0.1 | −0.1 | −0.2 | −0.5 | +0.1 | +1.8 | +1.4 | +0.9 | +0.2 | −0.5 | −0.3 |
| 2023 | −0.2 | −0.1 | −0.1 | −0.2 | −0.4 | −0.6 | +0.2 | +0.6 | +0.2 | +1.0 | +0.5 | −0.1 |
| 2024 | −0.1 | −0.1 | −0.1 | −0.1 | −0.5 | −0.6 | −0.4 | +0.2 | +1.1 | +2.2 | +0.7 | −0.1 |
| 2025 | −0.1 | −0.1 | −0.1 | −0.1 | −0.3 | +0.2 | +0.6 | +1.0 | +0.7 | +1.3 | +0.9 | +0.1 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
About these numbers
| Names, area, population | Wikidata (Q207751) · 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.
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