21.—The History of the North Water

Abstract

In 1616 William Baffin, coasting up the icebound west coast of Greenland, reported: ‘The first of July we were come into an open sea, in the latitude of 75 degrees 40 minutes, which a new revived our hope of a passage…’ (Purchas 1625). From this point, at an unspecified longitude in the north part of Melville Bay, he cruised for 12 days in open water, up the Greenland coast to 77°30'N and down the west side of Baffin Bay to Bylot Island, seeing and naming on the way Smith, Jones, and Lancaster sounds. From Bylot Island south he found ‘a ledge of ice between the shoare and us’ as he continued past Pond Inlet and down the coast of Baffin Island. This is the first mention in written records, and the first known navigation, of an area that became well known two centuries later as the ‘North Water’.

The anomalous sea‐ice extent in Hudson bay, Baffin bay and the Labrador sea during three simultaneous NAO and ENSO episodes

“…However, in the northwestern corner of Hudson Bay the SIC is only 4-6/10 because oi the strong northwesterly winds in that region that drive the ice offshore (Wang et JL, 1994b). The North Water polynya in northern Baffin Bay can also be seen in the May map; it is believed to be caused by a combination of coastal upwelling west oi Greenland and offshore ice transport by strong northerly winds (Dunbar, 1951;Dunbar and Dunbar, 1972;Mysak and Huang, 1992). There is also open water curing May in the region west of southern Greenland, due to the influence of the relatively warm northward-flowing West Greenland Current.…”

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ABSTRACT The nature of thé sea-ice extent in Hudson Bay, Baffin Bay and thé Labrador Sea associated with thé three strong simultaneous NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation) and ENSO (El Nino-Southern Oscillation) épisodes of 1972/73, 1982/83 and 1991/92

RÉSUMÉ On examine la nature et l'étendue de la glace de mer sur la baie d'Hudson, la baie de Baffin et la mer du Labrador, associée à trois forts épisodes simultanés de la NAO (Oscillation Nord-Atlantique) et de l'ENSO (El Nino-Oscillations australes) en 1972 -73, 1982 -83 et 1991 -92. Durant le premier épisode, 1972

Introduction Wang et al (1994a)

recently performed a comprehensive data study of thé interannual variability of sea-ice cover in Hudson Bay, Baffin Bay and thé Labrador Sea for thé period 1953-88.

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The Biological Importance of Polynyas in the Canadian Arctic

“…The largest and most famous polynya in the Canadian Arctic i i t h e "North Water" of Smith Sound and northwestern Baffh Bay (Fig. 1) which was first reported by William Baffh in 1616 (see reviews by Nutt, 1969;Dunbar and Dunbar, 1972). During the winter, pack ice being carried south through Kane Basin by currents from the polar basin becomes congested and forms an impassable ice dam in Smith Sound between northeastern Ellesmere Island and northwestern Greenland.…”

Variability of Arctic Sea Ice: The View from Space, An 18-year Record

“…6), reflecting the fact that as the ice begins to break up with the approach of summer, the breakup proceeds from within the pack in some regions. Probably the most studied of all such regions is the North Water Polynya area (e.g., Dunbar and Dunbar, 1972;Müller et al, 1977) to the west of Greenland at 76˚-78˚N. However increasing attention is now also being given (e.g., by Martin and Cavalieri, 1989;Brigham, 1996;Dethleff et al, 1998) to the polynya areas in the Russian Arctic seen in the June image of Figure 6 in the Laptev and East Siberian Seas.…”