Hans Island Hans Island Hans Island (; ; ; ) is a small, uninhabited barren knoll measuring , long and wide, in the centre of the Kennedy Channel of Nares Strait—the strait that separates Ellesmere Island from northern Greenland and connects Baffin Bay with the Lincoln Sea. Hans Island is the smallest of three islands in Kennedy Channel; the others are Franklin Island and Crozier Island. The strait at this point is wide, placing the island within the territorial waters of both Canada and Greenland. A theoretical line in the middle of the strait goes through the island. The island has likely
Baffin Island at a similar latitude. Sea ice surrounds the island for most of the year, and only disappears completely from the north coast for short unpredictable periods from mid- to late June until the end of September. Most of Baffin Island lies above the Arctic Circle and all the communities from Pangnirtung northwards have polar night in winter and the midnight sun in summer. The eastern community of Clyde River has twilight instead of night from April 26 until May 13, continuous sunlight for 2½ months from May 14 to July 28, then twilight instead of night from July 29 until