C. GLACIER ICE 



Baffin Bay and Davis Strait are the source of the majority of ice- 

 bergs of the northern hemisphere. The inshore water of Melville Bugt has 

 a massive glacier coast. Into the Melville Bugt waters great numbers of 

 bergs drift from the south. Here, even greater numbers of bergs originate! 



Icebergs are present in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait during all sea- 

 sons. Their number and distribution varies with the season and the year. 



Therp are approximately 100 active glaciers on the west coast of 

 Greenland; 20 of these are regarded as significant producers of bergs. 

 The bergs that are calved along the coast north of Disko Bay assume a 

 northabout drift in the coastal waters of Baffin Bay. They enter Melville 

 Bugt where they augment the thousands of bergs that lie in the nearshore 

 waters. 



Bergs vary in height, from rather insignificant masses 30 to 50 

 feet high to giants that occasionally attain heights of 400 feet. Their 

 shapes are as varied as their sizes,, Few, however, are of the tabular 

 variety common to the Antarctic. Although approximately 7/8 of the mass 

 of the berg is submerged, measurements indicate that anywhere from 1 to 

 5 times the height of the berg actually is submerged. 



Winds and surface currents have little influence on the direction 

 or speed of the drift of bergs because of the immense mass of the sub- 

 merged portion. Thebberg's rate and direction of drift is a function of 

 the magnitude of the speed and direction of the subsurface currents 

 acting upon it. 



In addition to icebergs there is an abundance of other glacier frag- 

 ments (bergy bits and growlers). The number and distribution vary with 

 the distribution of the bergs and the intensity of the calving process 

 of the glaciers at the time of calving and at the time of mass disinte- 

 gration of great numbers of the older bergs. 



Some of the glaciers on the west coast of Greenland, such as 

 Jakobshavns Isbrae, may calve the year round. Those to the north, how- 

 ever, are active for a relatively short period. Glaciers located north 

 of Disko and south of Melville Bugt usually begin to calve in the latter 

 part of July, and those in Melville Bugt in the beginning of August 

 coincidental with the final removal of the fast ice. Glacier activity 

 reaches its height in the few weeks following initial calving. Soon vast 

 quantities of glacial fragments move out of the fjords and bays into 

 coastal waters and slowly drift northward. In Melville Bugt, coastal 

 waters fill with glacier debris as much as 30 miles to the seaward. 



Toward the end of the month, the mass of floating glacial fragments, 

 in the forms of bergs, bergy bits, and growlers will have drifted into 

 the area of Kap York and westward along the Crimson Cliffs. The debris 

 of the glaciers, pulverized glacier ice, and growlers are subjected to 

 fairly rapid melting, leaving the heavier masses of ice. By mid-September, 

 when autumn begins to take full sway, great numbers of bergs that were 



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