SCIENTIFIC EESULTS 



43 



whalers the bay is characterized by two distinct areas of sea ice, 

 respectively called ** west ice "' and '' middle ice '' from their loca- 

 tions. Mecking (1906, p. 104) basing his assumptions largely upon 

 the drift of the Fox describes the baj^ as split by two packs. The 

 easternmost is composed largely of ice from Melville Bay and from 

 the east side of Smith Sound. The Avest ice is said to come from the 

 west side of Smith Sound, from Jones Sound, from Lancaster Sound, 

 and from the Baffin Land coast. The '' middle ice '' loomed espe- 

 cially large in the eyes of the whalers because it often obstructed their 

 path, and threatened their profits. The separation of the sea ice of 

 Baffin Ba3% however, into two definite sections is not borne out by a 

 careful analysis of conditions as a whole, nor woidd it logically 



Baffin bay Pack ice 



FiGUUE 21. — The t>astorn edge of the Baffin Land pack .July 3. 1928. in latitude 67° 

 N., longitude 58° W.. 70 miles east of Cape Dier, Baffin Land. At this time the 

 western half of the neck of Davis Strait being ice decked and the eastern half, 

 open water, reflects the underlying circulation of these interesting waters. The 

 fact that the ice rises above the main deck of the Godthanb is striking evidence 

 of the great thickness of the pack ice in Baffin Bay. (Photograph by Commander 

 E. Riis-Cartensen of the Qodthaab expedition.) 



result from the behavior of the ice or from the factors influencing 

 Ihe latter. What the whalers called west ice is the most tightly 

 ll)acke(l part of the cover, naturally to be found hugging the Baffin 

 iLand coast. ^Middle ice probably refers to that part of the pack that 

 ;the w^inds and slow^ cyclonic circulation of the bay tend to collect in 

 jthe central and even in the Melville Bay section. The designation of 

 r middle " to the position of the pack is, moreover, somewhat accentu- 

 ated by the widening of a lead of open w^ater around the shores of 

 Baffin Bay in late summer. The west ice represents the heavy back- 

 bone of the pack, while the middle ice is merely the outer fields sub- 

 ject to Avider annual variations. The supply for both comes from the 

 upper reaches of Smith Sound, from the Avater arms of th'^ Ameri- 

 can Archipelago via Jones Sound, Lancaster Sound, and Eclipse 



