Denmark Strait, between Greenland and Iceland, based on the 

 little information at hand from other seasons, was far less encum- 

 bered with field ice than on an average year. At no time was Den- 

 mark Strait completely closed as occasionally occurs. The outer 

 fringes at times, however, approached to within 30 miles of the 

 northwest coast of Iceland. The pack was not reported as having 

 surrounded Jan Mayen Island at any time during the season. Dur- 

 ing August the field ice in the narrowest part of the strait began 

 to scatter and melt rapidly, reducing to a minimum late in Septem- 

 ber. In mid-September a vessel made the journey from Scoresby 

 Sound to Angmagssalik sighting bergs and light field ice only. 

 By 23 September the southern limit of the main pack had receded 

 north along the East Greenland coast to latitude 68° N. with heavy 

 storis beginning at latitude 69° N. 



At Scoresby Sound and the fjord region from latitude 70° N. to 

 75° N. definite signs of the ice break-up were evident by 16 July. 

 Most of this region was navigable to ice protected vessels by the 

 end of August but never entirely free of field ice during the season. 

 The last vessel left the Scoresby Sound region on 25 September 

 under very difficult ice conditions. In all the ice was much lighter 

 than considered average for northeast Greenland. 



CONCLUSIONS 



Findings of the 1942 season and a comparison with those of pre- 

 vious years lead to the conclusions summarized briefly as follows : 



1. The ice crop, both bergs and field ice, in the Grand Banks 

 region which is normally the critical area for North Atlantic ship- 

 ping between America and Europe, was so extremely light in 1942 

 that it was no menace. 



2. The ice crop in all North Atlantic areas was lighter than on 

 an average year, and the ice season was of shorter duration. 



3. No ships were reported as sunk from collisions with ice in 

 1942 although some vessels suffered superficial damage, and some 

 were temporarily beset in ice. The damage was incurred mostly 

 in northern waters by vessels on missions requiring navigation 

 through ice-infested areas. 



Table of Ice Reporfs, 1942 



The table which follows summarizes the individual reports of 

 ice sightings for the period February through November 1942. 

 The first column gives the day of the month on which the sighting 

 was made. The second column gives a number indicating the area 

 of sighting conforming to the following key : 



I. St. Lawrence Area — Includes St. Lawrence River, gulf proper east to Strait 

 of Belle Isle, and south thi'ough Cabot Strait and Gut of Canso; also banks 

 immediately south and east of Cape Breton Island, and banks south of Nova 

 Scotia. 



