OCEANOGRAPHIC CONDITIONS IN NARES STRAIT 

 AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 1970 



Martin J. Moynihan ' 



INTRODUCTION 



Nares Strait is the system of channels and 

 basins between Eliesmere Island and Northwest 

 Greenland, connecting Baffin Bay with the 

 Lincoln Sea and Arctic Ocean (fig. 1 ) . It in- 

 cludes (from south to north) Smith Sound, 

 Kane Basin, Kennedy Channel, Hall Basin, and 

 Robeson Channel. Since 1950, several Cana- 

 dian oceanograpliers (Bailey, 1957; Collin, 

 1965; and Dunbar, 1951) have reported on 

 cruises into Nares Strait to present their data 

 and compare the I'esults with the classical ex- 

 peditions of the Danish GODTHAAB and CGC 

 MARION in 1928. 



Coast Guard vessels have also conducted 

 sevex'al surveys into Northern Baffin Bay and 

 Nares Strait to investigate the flow of Arctic 

 Water through this channel. The results of sur- 

 veys by CGC EVERGREEN and CGC EDISTO 

 in 1963 and 1966 respectively have been re- 

 ported by Franceschetti et al. (1964) and Pal- 

 frey and Day (1968). During August and Sep- 

 tember 1968, 1969, and 1970, the CGC WEST- 

 WIND conducted oceanogra]ihic surveys in 

 northern Baffin Bay under the auspices of the 

 Baffin Bay-North Water Project, coordinated 



by the Arctic Institute of North America and 

 including groups from the University of Wash- 

 ington, U.S. Coast Guard, McGill University 

 and Dartmouth College (Muench, 1971b). CGC 

 EASTWIND and CGC SOUTHWIND com- 

 pleted oceanographic surveys in Kane Basin in 

 September 1968 and 1969 respectively with 

 field parties from the Coast Guard Oceano- 

 graphic Unit and Naval Oceanographic Office 

 onboard (Moynihan, in press). 



During August and September 1970, CGC 

 WESTWIND conducted an oceanographic sur- 

 vey from Inglefield Bay on the western coast 

 of Greenland, through the Smith Sound-Kane 

 Basin region and into Kennedy Channel, Hall 

 Basin, and Robeson Channel (figs. 2 and 3). 

 This survey was a combination of two projects 

 at the Coast Guard Oceanographic Unit: first, 

 a continuation of an investigation of the ice- 

 berg producing glaciers on the western coast 

 of Greenland and second, a continuation of the 

 1968 and 1969 surveys in the Nares Strait re- 

 gion to investigate the interchange of water 

 between the Arctic Ocean and Baffin Bay. 



'Coast Guard Oceanographic Unit. Building 159-E. Navy Yard 

 Annex. WashinKton. D.C. 203:iO. 



DATA ACOnSITION AND PROCESSING 



Temperature data and water samples were 

 collected by Nansen casts. The water samples 

 were analyzed on board with inductive salinom- 

 eters. The conductivity values obtained were 

 converted to salinity by use of the International 

 Occauoi/raphir Tables published jointly by 

 UNESCO and the National Institute of Ocean- 

 ography of Great Britain (1966). Water sam- 



ples were also collected and frozen for later 

 determination of inorganic phosphate, nitrate, 

 nitrite, and silicate at the Coast Guard Ocean- 

 ographic Unit using the techniques described 

 by Strickland and Parsons (1968). 



The temperature data were processed at the 

 Coast Guard Oceanographic Unit following the 

 jirocedures specified in the U.S. Naval Ocean- 



