Nugasuaq 0er o Thickness of this ice will be generally 3 feet by January 

 and 4 to 5 feet from mid-February to mid-April. Following this period, 

 gradual disintegration takes place and the ice will decrease in thickness 

 to 3 to U feet in May, and 3 feet in June. 



Although fairly level and smooth, with comparatively few pressure 

 ridges (owing to its protected environment), the ice is heavily dotted 

 with bergs, bergy bits, and growlers. Some of the bergs will be as high 

 as 300 feet, although the average height is 150 to 200 feet. Greatest 

 banks of bergs are found off Kap York, immediately east of Bushnans 

 and south of Kap Melville, the east side of Thorns 0, and the length of 

 the ice between Thorns and Holms 0er. Growlers are found more frequently 

 between Holms and Nugssuaq 0er. Fewer growlers are found in the ice to 

 the north, the majority having drifted along the coastal waters to the 

 west of Kap York and Wolstenholme 0. 



Although there are great numbers of bergs and smaller fragments of 

 glacial ice, great stretches of flat ice which can be used for emergency 

 descent are present. 



The fast ice begins to break and separate from the shore late in the 

 melting season. The area between Holms and Nugssuaq 0er and north of 

 Holms to the vicinity of Red Head, i3 the first to clear. This will 

 occur usually in the end of June. Cracks and puddles appear in the ice 

 by mid-July. The ice disappears by the end of July or early August 

 throughout this section of the coast except for Dedodes Fjord where bergs 

 and current eddies maintain remnant floe3« 



The coastal waters of Melville Bugt are never free of ice; glacial 

 ice remains following the removal of sea ice. In early August the gla- 

 cier coast becomes very active, calving an abundance of glacial fragments 

 which spread seaward as much as 30 miles. These in turn follow the nor- 

 mal current pattern of the Melville Bugt waters and drift toward the 

 Crimson Cliffs and the waters to the west of Thule. 



Melville Bugt - This bay is frozen over by the early part of November. 

 During the early weeks of its formation, passing storms tend to break the 

 ice and cause considerable rafting and ridging. Large quantities of this 

 ice apparently drift westward. The succeeding ice which forms rapidly 

 usually features less rafting and ridge3. The ridges should be 2 to 4 

 feet with some exceeding 6 feet; however, they are separated by layers of 

 flat and fairly level ice which frequently have dimensions of several 

 thousand yards. 



Calculations show that the ice In Melville Bugt generally should 

 reach a thickness of 2 to 3 feet by mid-January and 3 to k feet by March. 

 Locally, some of the ice will exceed a thickness of 5 feet. Ice continues 

 to grow slowly through April and, at times, into the early part of the 

 following month. 



