-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [Fwd: RE: Total number of islands in the world]
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 14:59:23 -0800 (PST)
From: Roger Wheate <[log in to unmask]>
To: Maps and Air Photo Systems Forum <[log in to unmask]>

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On Tue, 21 Dec 2004, Johnnie D. Sutherland wrote:

> How big does a piece of exposed rock have to be before it is classified as
> an island?
> Richard Dean

In (lower) Canada, I recall it has to have 2 trees on it to be an island.
hence the area in the St. Lawrence known as the '1000 islands' (also the
salad dressing), actually has over 1700 islands. This definition though
does not work in the artic. There is no single answer, as it depends on
scale, just as there is no exact answer for the length of a coastline.

Roger Wheate