SCIENTIFIC RESULTS 69 



to the western shores. But practically nothing is known regarding 

 the productivity of these. It is safe, however, to say that its western 

 glaciers are of little consequence as far as contributory bergs to 

 Baffin Bay, but the berg character of the glaciers debouching into 

 Croker Bav is not so certain. The British Admiralty Chart of the 

 Arctic Sea dated 1853 shows a tidewater glacier on the east coast of 

 Devon Island, just north of Philpot Island. 



Glaciation IX Bylot Island 



The proximity of this island to Baffin Land really makes it fall 

 in the same class as the latter, as far as glaciation is concerned. 

 Mountain ranges !2,-200 feet in altitude slope north and south, provid- 

 ing a central ice cap and valley glaciers. It is almost certain, how- 

 ever, that none of these reach sea level, thus eliminating Bylot Island 

 as a possible source of iceberg discharge. 



Glaciation in Baffin Land 



Northern Baffin Land between Admiralty and Navy Board Inlets 

 supports an ice cap but the chart of this region does not show any out- 

 let of tidewater glaciers. Low (1906. p. 60) describes a glacier at the 

 head of Erik Fjord, in Eclipse Sound, a mile in width. Its motion 

 is said to be slow and despite its 100-foot high front, the few bergs 

 calved are small. Rasmussen (1926, p. 554) has reported the presence 

 of an ice cap in the highlands east of Albert Harbor, and according 

 to the Eskimos, there is a still larger glaciated area back of Scott Inlet 

 in longitude 71° W. This ice is apparently wholly inland, as no 

 glaciers are known to extend down to sea level. Small local glaciers, 

 however, have been observed in a few places, for instance, north of 

 Low Point and at Oliver Sound which faces southeastward toward 

 Eclipse Sound. The ice cover of Baffin Land proper is heaviest on 

 the eastern side of the midland ridge which runs lengthwise of the 

 island, but even here the glaciation is deeply serrated in places, and 

 many bare lower areas lie in the foreground. Several glaciers, accord- 

 ing to Mecking (1928, p. 216) descend on each side of the backbone 

 of ice on Cumberland Peninsula, but no icebergs of consequence are 

 produced. Stefansson (1912, p. 13) says "the glaciers of Baffin 

 Island are comparable in size to the glaciers in British Columbia."' 

 Capping the ridge between Frobisher Bay and Hudson Strait, lies the 

 81-mile Grinnell Glacier from which, in longitude 68° W., one barren 

 alpine tongue descends to Hudson Strait. This is the southernmost 

 glacier of any size on the American side of Davis Strait, Labrador 

 having only small patches of ice in the high mountain cachements of 

 its northern section. 



Summarizing the American side of Baffin Bay and Davis Strait ; 

 none of the areas of glaciation there, viz, Ellesmere Land, Axel Hei- 

 berg Island. Prince Patrick Island. Melville Island, Devon Island. 

 Bylot Island. Baffin Island, or Labra'dor are important sources of 

 icebergs, *• except Ellesmere Land, and little information is available 

 as to the rate of productivity of the latter. It is estimated that 150 

 bergs are produced annually from tlie American side of Baffin Bay 

 and Davis Strait. 



^'^ Mpckins (1906. p. 62) comnipnts as follows: "In Amerlcanischen Arktisclien Archipel 

 sind zwar auch einige Gletschor gefunden, welche Eisberge abwerfen. so Z. B., Von Kane 

 auf Cornwallis, von Sverdrup im Heureka-Sund und der Westseite des Smith-Sund, aber 

 auch diese Quellen treten ganzlich in dem Ilintergrund." 



