78 MARION EXPEDITION TO DAVIS STRAIT AXD BAFFUST BAY 



denial, the current maps of the Labrador Sea now made available 

 as a result of the Marion expedition, permit us to state definitely that 

 for an east Greenland berg to cross Davis Strait is certainly an ex- 

 ceptional occurrence. The westerly drifts, it will be seen, progress 

 in broad tortuous bands at the very sluggish rate of approximately 5 

 to 6 miles per day. In other words, it would take four months to cross 

 Davis Strait opposite Ivigtut and two months opposite Godthaab. 

 If the first of the season's bergs wdiich arrive at Cape Farewell in 

 April Avere to remain in the axis of these currents, some of them 

 might reach Labrador, near Nain, or opposite Hudson Strait by the 

 middle of August; if following the northern route, by the first of 

 July. But the likelihood of such " strays " keeping always in the 

 currents is so small that probably they would be " lost " somewhere in 

 transit. Furthermore, the surface water in the central part of 

 Davis Strait is then so warm that any berg coming into it would 

 soon melt. As for east Greenland bergs penetrating directly south 

 of Cape Farewell into the Atlantic, no such distribution is sup- 

 ported by our present knowledge of current or of winds. The tem- 

 perature of the oceanic water, furthermore, through which bergs 

 would have to travel for a distance of more than 900 miles in order 

 to appear oif Flemish Cap precludes any such behavior of the ice. 



NORTH GREENLAND GLACIERS 



Considering how large and numerous are the north Greenland 

 glaciers, their production of icebergs is insignificant. Probably the 

 greatest barriers to the discharge and distribution of bergs for them 

 is the heavy pack ice which tightly seals these glacier fronts for 

 years at a time. This ice blockade may run in age all the way from 

 sikussak. to paleocrystic forms tightly held in the regions on the 

 northwest coast ; or simply to old sea ice that has been lodged in the 

 fjords and across the entrances. The constant pressure of sea ice 

 against the glacier fronts, the low mean annual temperature, the 

 shallow gradient of the ice, and the amount of precipitation combine 

 on many of the ice tongues to develop a fioating end which while 

 common in the Antarctic is not found elsewhere in the Arctic. 



There are 13 glaciers in this district, as follows, from east to west: 

 Academy, Marie Sophie, Astrup, Hobbs, Jungerssen, Ostenfeldt, 

 Ryder, Steensby. Sigurd Berg, Porsild, Petermann. Humboldt, and 

 Hiawatha. The glaciers of Independence Fjord — Academj^, Marie 

 Sophie, Astrup, Hobbs, and Steensby — detach a considerable number 

 of icebergs which lie packed and cemented together perhaps for 

 several years and then, once in 15 or 20 summers or so, break loose. 

 Jungerssen Glacier, in Nordenskiold Fjord, like Academy is featured 

 by a stream of coalesced icebergs. A few short alpine glaciers face 

 the polar sea in Peary Land. Practically all of them are sealed by 

 heavy pack ice but Koch (1928. p. 326) Ijelieves that one small gla- 

 cier just east of Cape Cannon calves a few bergs. Discharge is 

 assisted by occasional changes in the thrust of the sea ice, which for 

 this particular place is sometimes athwart the glacier end. The rate 

 of discharge is, of course, very meager and our interest lies mainly 

 in the fact that this is the northernmost iceberg-producing glacier 

 in the world. The four north Greenland glaciers with their floating 

 ends are: Petermann. Steensby, Ryder and Ostenfeldt. Petermann, 



