SCIENTIFIC RESULTS 39 



There has been much discussion whether any of the pack ice wliicli 

 drifts southward to Cape Farewell continues either toward Flemish 

 Cap. or Avestward to join the eastern North American pack. Ap- 

 parently no direct observations have been made to support such a 

 conclusion. Xevertheless, statements to this <>eneral elfect continue 

 to appear in literature. The possibility that ice may journey from 

 Cape Farewell to Labrador or to Newfoundland is worth reviewino;. 

 Chamberlin (1895, p. G53) in describing the Arctic current which 

 curls around Cape Farewell and sets northward along the west coast, 

 says : " Then gradually the current recurves to the west and south, 

 and descends the Labrador coast, its burden of ice being progressively 

 melted and dispersed." On his own voyage to Greenland, however, 

 he left the pack at a point no farther north than the Frederickshaab 

 Glacier in latitude 62° 30' N. Johnston (1915, p. 40) is of the 

 opinion that a branch of the east Greenland current invades the 

 North Atlantic to the forty-third parallel east of Flemish Cap, and 

 that ice sighted east of longitude 44, is from east Greenland. Jagdt 

 (1928. p. 9) believed that parts of the east Greenland pack some- 

 times break away, off west Greenland and subsequently are carried 

 over to the American side. Schott (1904, p. 305) investigating the pos- 

 sible relationship between the pack ice off Newfoundland and off east 

 Greenland, found that bad ice years in the one area coincided with good 

 ice years in the other. For example, in 1881, enormous masses of ice 

 swelled the east Greenland pack to capacity, while at the same time 

 Labrador saw little ice. If east Greenland ice feeds the waters of 

 Labrador or of Newfoundland, why did those regions lack ice that 

 yearJ' Mecking (1906, p. 102) after an exhaustive investigation of 

 Davis Strait, concludes that the east Greenland pack never joins the 

 American. Jensen (1909, p. 32) on the Tjalfe expedition, June 5, 

 1908. encountered the seaward edge of the pack in longitude 56° 30' 

 W.. on the sixtieth parallel, at a position halfway between Greenland 

 a 111 Labrador. The National Geographic ^Magazine for November, 

 1925, published on a supplementary map of the Arctic regions the 

 maximum limit of ice, indicating a complete bridging of Davis 

 Strait. But the westernmost record in the files of the Danish Me- 

 teorological Office, however, an institution which keeps in close touch 

 with ice conditions in Greenland, is at longitude 54° 30' W., July, 

 191s. when the pack barely reached halfway across Davis Strait. 

 Irminger (1856, p. 41), says "there does not exist even a branch of 

 the current which runs directly from east Greenland toward the New- 

 foundland banks." And Wandel (1893, p. 255) in speaking of the 

 east Greenland packs, says, " elle ne se renuit jamais av€c celle clu 

 Courant du Labrador ou le Vestis, qiiand. par exception, le detroit de 

 Davis est barre c'est sans aucun doute le derniere qui a ete pousse vers 

 TEst." 



The most favorable time for pack ice to cross to the American 

 side is in winter, i. e., at the season when it is at its minimum. And 

 in July, Avhen the pack is most abundant, Davis Strait waters are 

 so warm it can not long survive there. It seems safe to conclude, 

 therefore, that pack ice from the east Greenland current never crosses 

 to American waters. 



The pack ice in the Arctic Ocean, around Iceland, in Kara Sea, 

 in Barents Sea, and in the Greenland Sea has been sttidied by 



120860—31 4 



