REPORT ON OCEANOGRAPHY 29 



Stream off the Atlantic Coast of Canada. Hudson's Bay is an inland 

 sea, similar in many respects to the Baltic. It is shallow, the waters are 

 brackish, and the ice melts where it is during the short, hot summer. 



This melting, and the annual migration of ice out of the Eastern 

 Arctic leaves a summer sea route open into Hudson's Bay where the port 

 of Churchill has been established at the railhead. 



The oceanography and fisheries of this region are being studied by 

 the Atlantic Oceanographic Group and the Fisheries Research Board. 



Off the Atlantic Coast of Canada, the cold currents flowing south 

 from Greenland meet the warm Gulf Stream floating northward. This 

 is one of the great fishing areas, and the world's most travelled sea 

 route. It is bitterly cold in the winter, and sub-tropic in summer. Ice- 

 bergs are frequent and dangerous. Oceanography in that area is con- 

 cerned with the movements and properties of the water that affect the 

 fisheries and ice movements. 



The Atlantic Oceanographic Group, working with three ships, has 

 explored the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Scotian Shelf and 

 Grand Banks, and northward into Davis Strait, Baffin Bay, Hudson's 

 Strait, and Hudson's Bay. They have identified the water masses and 

 currents, and are studying their seasonal and annual variations. This 

 group carries out extensive oceanographic studies. Also it helps to 

 plan the work of a number of contributing organizations, and to ana- 

 lyze the date. Every opportunity is taken to make use of Hydrographic 

 Fisheries and Naval vessels in the area. 



The ice in the Beaufort Sea and Western Arctic melts in June and 

 the ice barrier retreats northward to latitude 75 °N. However, the 

 oceanography is such that great point of ice reaches south to Point 

 Barrow in Alaska. This effectively keeps ships out of the area until 

 the end of July, and closes the area early in September, even though 

 the Beaufort Sea itself is open to navigation. 



The Pacific Oceanogi^aphic Group and the U.S. Navy Electronics 

 Laboratory have jointly explored this region each summer since 1949 

 and are developing the oceanography of this wind dominated, tideless 

 sea. 



The Canadian Archipelago is the barrier between East and West. 

 Some of the greatest expeditions of discovery were lost here while seek- 

 ing a Northwest Passage. The place names are cenotaphs of daring, 

 hardship, and disaster. The ice melts slowly, and has very little freedom 

 of movement in these shallow channels. Consequently the Northwest 

 Passage has only been navigated a few times. The most notable achieve- 

 ments are the passages of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police vessel 

 St. Roche commanded by Sergeant A. Larsen. They patrolled this re- 

 gion for twenty years, making five complete passages. Two years were 



