Notes on the sea-ice along the east coast of Greenland. 199 
annually during summers with ordinary ice-conditions from Ile de France 
and probably even from further north to the south along the east coast 
of Greenland. 
The breadth of this coastwater is very variable, ranging from half 
a mile to ЗА 4 miles — in some places even more — and it will, at least 
in the early summer, be rather free of drifting ice, the pack-ice as 
a rule not going beyond the limits of the main polar current. 
But later in the year, in June or July, the coastwater is likely to be 
filled with drifting ice-floes, either with pieces breaking off from the solid 
land-ice or by small floes forced away from the main pack by strong 
NE winds. This ice will — as stated above (p. 197) — remain in the 
coastwater and often obstruct it entirely, until a strong land-breeze 
forces it out to sea, where it once more gets within the grip of the main 
current. 
The coastwater, which forms the boundary between the solid land-ice 
and the drifting pack-ice will probably mark the inner termination of 
the polar current, as all ice outside the coastwater drifts to the south, 
whatever the direction of the wind, and the theory put forth by TROLLE! 
to the effect that the main current follows an imaginary line rather far 
out to sea from Nordost-Rundingen to Shannon Island, does not seem 
quite correct, as nothing but a continuous drift to the south could form 
a coastwater free of ice and extending along the coast during the greater 
part of the year. 
The “imaginary line” of TROLLE hes about 60 miles off land in the 
place where it is furthest out (off Jokel Bay), and it is unlikely that 
the current should not be deflected towards the west, rather close on 
land, as everywhere else on the east coast of Greenland. Also, if the 
main current or a branch of it did not reach the coast of the mainland, 
then all the ice in this area of slack water would freeze together and 
on to the land, thus forming a very broad stretch of land-ice, as the 
motion in the water caused by the tide or changing winds would be 
quite insufficient to keep this large area broken all during the winter, 
and we know that the ice is nearly always broken close to all promi- 
nent points, viz: Mallemukfjældet, He de France, Cape Bismarck and 
Shannon Island. 
Another, and possibly the safest proof of the existence of a branch 
of the main polar current, close to the north-east coast of Greenland, 
is the rather large amount of drift-wood found in Danmark’s Fjord, on 
the coasts of Holm’s and Amdrup’s Land and along the north coast of 
Germania Land. This drift-wood must have been brought there by the 
current, as it could not otherwise have been stranded on land far within 
the limits of the main current. 
1 TROLLE: Hydrographical Observations from the Danmark-Expedition. 
Medd. om Grønland, vol. XLI, pag. 406. 
