the number of icebergs in the fjords along some 

 glacier fronts will completely "blow your mind." 

 In these areas camera surveys should be used for 

 counts approaching an acceptable accuracy. Even 

 with photographs available the problem of de- 

 ciding which pieces of ice to count is very diffi- 

 cult in an ice choked area in which there is almost 

 a continuum of pieces of ice covering the spec- 

 trum from brash to enormous pieces of glacial ice 

 a mile or more in length. Possibly the best way 

 of evaluating iceberg conditions in the near shore 

 and estuarine area is by the comparison of photo- 

 graphs. 



An analysis of the difference between visual 

 and photographic surveys was made of the 1949 

 data by Soule (1951). Considering the three areas 

 A, B, and C shown in figure 24, Soule found that 

 the ratio between photographic and visual counts 

 for area A was 2.4, for area B was 1.8, and for 

 area C was about 1.0. The high ratio in area A 

 was influenced by the large number of icebergs 

 present in the fjords of West Greenland. The 

 high ratio in area B is probably due to the large 

 number of icebergs which typically congregate 

 between Cape York and Devon Island. The close 

 agreement between photographic and visual 

 counts in area C indicates that visual methods 

 are probably satisfactory for all areas away from 

 the Greenland coast. 



Fall Iceberg Surveys 



The fall northern iceberg surveys of Baffin Bay 

 include July or August surveys made in 1948 and 

 1949. and September or October surveys made 

 each year from 1964 to the present. The results of 

 the surveys, in terms of icebergs per two square 

 degrees, are shown in figures 25 through 31. The 

 charts were constructed by plotting the iceberg 

 count for each two square degree areas in the 

 center of the area, and then contouring the result- 

 ing chart. The two square degree areas used for 

 plotting were rectangles measuring one degree 

 latitude by two degrees longitude. Thus rec- 

 tangles were 60 miles in latitude and varied from 

 about 30 to 50 miles in longitude. For features on 

 the contoured chart to be significant they should 

 generally be at least 60 miles in size. Because of 

 the unreliability of nearshore and estuarine 

 counts the contours were not extended into these 

 areas. In general the heavy iceberg concentrations 

 shown off the West Greenland coast appear some- 

 what farther to seawai'd than they actually are. 



This is because the data were plotted in the center 

 of each two square degree area, and the heavy ice- 

 berg concentrations usually fall off rapidly away 

 from the coast. The validity of the method of 

 presenting the data may be questioned because of 

 the use of continuous contouring to represent 

 counts of discrete icebergs which are locally ran- 

 dom in their distribution. The method appears 

 justified in its results ; the contoured distributions 

 are reasonable, and they show a marked similarity 

 from year to year. 



Figure 32 is a composite average of all com- 

 parable data between 1948 and 1969, and an 

 average of only the September/October data. 



The average charts and the charts for the vari- 

 ous years show several interesting features which 

 appear to be the normal pattern for summer and 

 fall iceberg distributions in Baffin Bay. It is 

 readily apparent that, with few exceptions, ice- 

 bergs are concentrated around the periphery of 

 Baffin Bay, with the heaviest concentrations 

 found in eastern Baffin Bay along the Greenland 

 coast. This agrees with Smith's finding (1940) 

 that "bergs were numerous within a coastal zone 

 of 15 miles; farther offshore they became quite 

 scattered to sparse, and farther than 40 miles out 

 they were only occasional. It would appear, from 

 our observations, that in the centi'al portions of 

 Davis Strait and Baffin Bay bergs were very in- 

 frequent." 



Tongues of icebergs extending westward or 

 southwestward into Baffin Bay from the Green- 

 land coast are commonly found at Disko Bay, 

 Northeast Bay, and between 73N and 75X. If it 

 is infeiTed that these tongues represent icebergs 

 drifting directly across Baffin Bay, then this path 

 appears to be an important route, in some years 

 possibly more important than the generally ac- 

 cepted route through Melville Bay and then south 

 along Devon, Bylot, and Baffin Island. A com- 

 parison of these two routes in 1948, 1949, 1968, 

 and 1969 indicates that each i-oute appears to have 

 contributed approximately the input shown be- 

 low. 



Percent of input Percent of input 



going through going directly 



Melville Bay across Baffin Bay 



64 36 



31 69 



73 27 



55 45 



