SCIENTIFIC RESULTS 



45 



"Water with a warm current from the Athintic, which, diving beneath 

 the cohl water of Davis Strait, is thouiiht to emero-e on tlie surface to 

 melt the ice from the head of Jiaftin Bay (see Xielsen, 1928, p. 221). 

 Tliere is no definite evidence of such a })lienomenon contained in the 

 observations of either Xielson (1928) or Annually (1929, pp. 87-95). 

 It seems more likely, however, that instead of a warm northward 

 inflow, this persistent polynya in Baffin Bay is maintained by a set 



80 



-7.5 



7o 



7o 



60 



50 



Pack Ice Areas in Baffin Bay 



FiofRE 2'J.. — The daslit'd liue rt'piesents the normal 

 maximum limit to which pack ice extends at the end 

 of a northern winter. The dotted line is the averasf 

 July boundary of the main body of the pack. The 

 solid line represents the normal minimum area and 

 position to which the P.aflin I>iy pack ice shrinks — 

 usually in September. Note the narrow shore lead 

 along the Battin Land side which isolates the pack 

 and may be the reason for designating this area of 

 ice as •" the middle pack."' 



in the opposite direction. The fast ice in Smith Sound is so strong 

 that it resists the current, but that formed just to the south is swept 

 away, leaving open water behind it. This explanation is supported, 

 moreover, by the recorded drifts of several ships and ice floes. Sev- 

 ei-al ol)>ervers in the vicinity of Etah have described looking south- 

 westward across the zone of fast ice over the open sea. The break 

 up of the fa.st ice in Smith Sound during June and July temporarily 

 chokes North Water, but eventually the latter clears, and its area 

 is iri'eatest in late summer. The ice in Kane Basin, if it breaks loose 



