84 



MAETON EXPEDITION" TO DAVIS STRAIT AND BAFFIX BAY 



Tlie condition of the fast ice vitally affects iceberg production in- 

 Melville Bay. Diirin<r a normal winter, fast ice will make out there 

 to a line from Wilcox Head to Cape York, and it often happens that 

 the ice does not completely break up during the next, or possibly 

 during several summers. Thus the icebergs are free to drift out into 

 Baffin Bay in some years from July to October, but in other years 



The Tidewater Glaciers from Cape York to Svantenhuk Peninsula 



Figure 42. — There is a total of 19 sizable tidewater glaciers in this section, out of whicli i 

 8 constitute the principal producers of icebergs. They are in order north to south : 

 Gade. King Ostar, Nansen, Dietrichson, Steenstrup, Hayes, Giesecke, and Upernivik. 

 It is estimated that there are 1,500 sizable icebergs discharged annually from this ' 

 Melville Bay region. 



they may lie penned against the glaciers. Thus, Koch (10:28, p. '200) 

 in 1916 and 1917 observed many bergs jammed against the fronts of i 

 Steenstrup and Dietrichson Glaciers. In 1920, however, conditionsi 

 changed, the fast ice broke up, and more than 20 square miles of« 

 densely packed icebergs were set free to drift offshore. Allowing ai 

 lag of one year for the bergs to drift from Melville Bay to Xew- 



I! 



