SCIENTIFIC RESULTS 35 



waiiu ciuTeiit makes accessible tlie harbors of the west coast for a 

 period of about four of the warmest months of the year. Spitsber- 

 \m\ pack refers to the ice which in the winter moves westward ])ast 

 fhe south cape of Spitsbergen, and which generally blocks the north- 

 eastern quadrant throughout the summer. Such of the pack as lies 

 southward of a line Si)itsbergen-Franz Josef Land to Nicholas II 

 Land, including the Kara Sea. and east to Cape Chelyuskin, drains 

 into the Atlantic through the northein part of the Barents Sea and 

 youth past Spitsbergen. During winter and early spring the Spits- 

 bero'en pack is swollen by the bi-eak-u[) of fiekls in the Barents Sea 

 and is, therefore, at its flood. During this season the pack may 

 s[)read so far to the south as to inclose Bear Island for a montli or 

 more at a time. But the continuity of the Spitsbergen pack is always 

 threatened by the inthrust of warm waters from the Atlantic. The 

 Hrst encroachment of s})ring .severs the pack and forms open water 

 in the offing of the west coa.sf. The ice in Barents Sea with the 

 proii'ress of spring and summer retreats steadily northward until 

 it persists only in the shelter to the northeast of Spitsl)ergen. In 

 this last region, on the line of conflict of such opposing forces, ice 

 conditions are subject to wide fluctuations. Despite the w'arm current 

 the great productivity of the area to the eastward guarantees in most 

 vears a generous supply of ice to the gi-eat east Greenland pack. 

 Those i)articularlv interested in the Spitsbergen area are referred to 

 Hoel (IIM)) : Iversen (li)L>7) : Kolchak (1909) : and Makarov (1901). 



The East Gkkexlaxd Pack 



Pack ice is seldom, if ever, absent from the waters of northeast 

 (ireenland and the Greenland Sea. The east Greenland pack is 

 tiMl by {a) the direct discharge from the Arctic Ocean; (h) by the 

 Mc from the Barents and Kara Seas: (r) by winter ice formed in 

 die Greenland Sea; and (d) by fast ice made locally along the coast. 

 The ice from all these separate regions is alike in general character 

 iind a})pearance, except tluit from the polar basin which, as already 

 ilescribed, is easily distinguishable. This old, heavy ocean pack 

 lill> the northwestern sector of the Greenland Sea but the nnijor 

 pnition of the covering of the latter consists of vounger, lighter 



lri( s. 



^Vinter Avitnesses the influx of heavy pans and floes into the 

 'neenland Sea reinforced by great quantities of ice formed locally. 

 \\\\> accunudation si)rea(ls gradually southward along the coast of 

 '■:ist (ireenland initiating in successive months the beginning of the 

 ice .^eason. Throughout the winter and spring large masses of the 

 oi'dinary jjack, together with some of the Arctic Ocean type, con- 

 tinue to push southward, and to spread away from the coast. Den- 

 mark Strait is normally more or less choked in spring, while in 

 a bad year the ice comi)ietely encircles the northern coast of Iceland 

 at that season. The boundary of the ice cover in spring displays a 

 diaracteristic tendency to spread eastward innnediately north of 

 Iceland where it probably comes under the control of the east Ice- 

 and current. An equally imi)ressive featin-e is a V-shaped re- 

 trenchment immediately west of Spitsbergen, an unmistakable effect 

 "f the warm Gulf sti'eam drift. The average outer limit of the 

 east Greenland |)ack in sprinii' runs from the eud)ayment near 



