The Ice of the Seas in the North American Arctic

Unpaginated      |      Vol_VII-0776                                                                                                                  
EA-Oceanography (John C. Weaver)

THE ICE OF THE SEAS IN THE NORTH AMERICAN ARCTIC

       

CONTENTS

	Page
Arctic Sea Ice	1
East Greenland Pack	5
Northeastern North American Pack	15
Hudson Bay and Strait	28
The Northwest Passages	35
Arctic Seas of Alaska	44

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EA-Oceanography

(John C. Weaver)

       

THE ICE OF THE SEAS IN THE NORTH AMERICAN ARCTIC

        There is perhaps no other single element which the popular mind more

instinctively or immediately associates with the Arctic than ice, and one can

readily imagine the awe and apprehension which flooded the minds of the early

adventurers who first made contact with this formidable barrier of white on

the uncharted seas before them. From the days of Erik the Red, threading

the drift ice of Greenland in his small open ships, to Frobisher, Davis, and

Hudson, feeling their ways northward along the unknown margins of a continent

in search of a sea road to the West, to the crushed ships of Franklin, locked

in the ice of Victoria Strait, down finally to the Nascopie and St. Roch of

today, the ice of the northern North American seas has been a stern but capric–

iously tantalizing foe.

       

Arctic Sea Ice

        In the interests of simplicity, the diverse ice forms of the northern seas

may be grouped in three major types: ( 1 ) Fast Ice, ( 2 ) Drift Ice, ( 3 ) Arctic

or Polar Back Ice. The primary mass found in the Arctic Sea is the Polar Pack

Ice, which occupies about 70%, or approximately 2,000,000 square miles, of the

deeper part of the north polar basin.

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        Polar Pack . The polar pack consists of an association of massive fields

of continually drifting ice, and derives its distinctive character primarily

from its great power, its compact solidity, and its extensive accumulations

of hummocky rafted ice. Varying in thickness from 7 to 8 to over one hundred

feet, it exhibits extensive leads of open water even in the coldest months.

During the shifting motions of the ice, fields hundreds of square miles in

area are crushed together and piled high along lines of weakness in one sec–

tion, while compensating open water appears in another. 1

        In speaking of the extent of this polar pack ice, Smith defines it as

having “the same general shape as the basin (of the Arctic Ocean), with its

margin closely paralleling the course of the 1000-meter isobath. Like the

deeper part of the polar basin, the elliptical-shaped cap (Polar Pack) lies

much closer to the Greenland-North American side than it does to Europe and

Asia, with its long axis running from Spitsbergen to Point Barrow, its center —

the Pole of Inaccessibility -- 2 offset about 400 miles toward Alaska.” 3

1. With reference to the character and identity of the Arctic or Polar Pack

Ice, Kolchak makes the following specific statement; “By the term ‘Arctic Pack’

I understand the many-years-old ice of the Arctic Ocean, mostly rafted (Russian,

nabivnoi ) and predominantly in the shape of fields, i.e. areas whose limits

cannot be seen from a ship’s mast. The distinctive characteristics of the Arctic

Pack are: its tremendous power, greater than that of the pressure-formed ice in

the marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean; its solidity, due to the age, of many years’

standing, of these rafted ice formations — a solidity that gradually increases

to such a degree that the ice masses look like a compact and homogeneous whole;

and finally, the size of the areas of rafted ice, so large that they represent

powerful hummocky ice fields in extent.” Kolchak, A., “The Arctic Pack and the

Polynya,” in Problems of Polar Research , American Geographical Society Special

Publication No. 7, New York, 1928, p. 125. 2. Stefansson estimates the position of the Pole of Inaccessibility as 135° or 140°

E., 76° or 78° N. 3. Smith, Edward H., “Ice in the Sea,” Chapter X, Physics of the Earth , V. Ocean–

ography, Bulletin, National Research Council, No. 85, June 1932, p. 398.

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        In certain backwash areas of the polar pack, as in the Beaufort Sea

east of the Point Barrow meridian, immediately west of Prince Patrick and

Banks Islands, and in important but lesser extent off the northern shores

of Greenland, are found chaotically assembled ridges, blocks, and domes of

especially old ice which represent the accumulated effects of long years of

shock and pressure. 4 And in contrast to these formidable areas of so-called

paleocrystic ice are large semipermanent or permanent open water areas known

as polynyas which, like Peary’s “Big Lead” off northern Greenland, seem to

assume certain characteristic positions in the polar basin.

        Fast Ice . Beyond the outer margins of this permanent central reservoir

of polar pack ice are found the regions of drift ice and fast ice, which

throughout much of the year, at least, occupy not only almost a third of the

polar basin itself, but have an important seasonal place in the seas to the

southward. Fast or landfast ice is the young coastal ice which, in stationary

sheets, builds seaward from the shores of the land masses, und goes th or ro ugh a

yearly cycle of appearance, extension, disintegration, and disappearance in

successive seasons. By being more or less attached to the shore, or by being

otherwise confined, it does not move or drift. Obtaining its maximum area

in late November or early December, the fast ice of the arctic regions gen–

erally increases in thickness until late April or early May, when disintegra–

tion be g ins.

4. It is in fact the great abundance of this so-called paleocrystic ice in

the eastern Beaufort Sea, that provides one of the reasons for Sverdrup and

Stefansson tentatively postulating the presence of a vast eddy in that region.

According to the Sverdrup and Stefansson theory, the ice is held here long

enough to acquire these paleocrystic characteristics, and when it ultimately

escapes from this eddy it starts moving in the course of the Karluk , Jeannette ,

and Fram , eventually appearing in the area between north Greenland and the Pole.

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        The extent of fast ice development will vary considerably from region

to region and year to year. Areas with irregular coast lines, numerous

offshore islands, and shallow depths favor the formation of wide belts of

fast ice, especially when associated with large river discharges of fresh

water. From the seasonal point of view, maximally abundant freezing will

be promoted by winters with severely low temperatures and light winds, pre–

ceeded by precipitation-rich autumns. The labyrinthine bays and passages

of the American Arctic Archipelago are second only to the coastal waters

of Siberia in the total volume and extent of fast ice production.

        Drift Ice . Transitionary between the fast ice and polar pack ice, and

drawing its existence from both, is the arctic drift ice. The term drift

ice has generalized reference to any sea ice which, under the influence of

winds and currents, has been moved from its p o sition of original formation.

It is distinguished from the mobile polar pack ice by its comparative light–

ness. Drift ice may, according to the season or area, be a tightly cohesive

formation, or may be fragmented by large or small areas of open water. Occu–

pying about 25% of the water area of the Arctic Sea, the d ir ri ft ice may on

its poleward margin reinforce the polar pack ice, or on its outer margin

become frozen into the fast ice. It is in those regions where it escapes

the polar basin to stream southward into lower latitudes that the Arctic

Sea drift ice is best known and of greatest general concern.

        Serving as the active agent in carrying the surplus of arctic freezing

to warmer southern waters, the polar drift ice follows the major current

lanes of the coastal shelves where shallow waters may be quickly enough

chilled to permit the survival of the ice in its .journey southward. In

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cross-section the typical drift ice stream is characterized as having an outer

zone of scatteredly detached pieces of ice, a center zone of wore compact

and heavy floes, though with cracks and leads, and an inside zone of strongly

compressed heavy ice, perhaps of polar pack origin. These gigantic streams

of ice make their greatest southward penetration during the sp r ing and early

summer and shrink in recession toward their source regions in late summer

and early fall.

        While the total amount of observational data is quite inadequate, such

knowle d ge as has been accumulated seems to suggest that the behavior of the

ice in the polar basin is characterized by a slow but definite anticyclonic

clockwise movement from east to west, under the dominant control of prevail–

ing winds, ocean currents, and earth rotation. In this slow revolution of

ice about the P ole, fields and floes break loose from the central polar ice

mass to be discharged southward to the North Atlantic along two main sea

roads: ( 1 ) the eastern coastal waters of Greenland, and ( 2 ) the continental

margin of northeastern North America.

       

The East Greenland Pack

        As the anticyclonic whorl of ice in the polar basin revolves past the

northern entrance to the Greenland Sea, a steadily flowing stream of heavy

ice exits southward. This is the chief outlet for the ice of the Arctic Sea.

It is estimated that one-third of the total volume of the ice of the polar

basin, or somewhere between 3,000 and 4,300 cubic miles of ice, are carried

out this way every year. The motion of the central pack in the arctic basin

has been observed to show the effects of this southerly drift up to the en–

virons of the Pole itself.

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        This enormous volume of ice surging out of the A rctic Sea is carried

southward down the Greenland coast by the East Greenland Current. From the

point of its most northerly recession in late summer, in the vicinity of

75° N., 0° W., southward to, and around Cape Farewell, and northward up the

southwest coast of Greenland to a point about 62° N., 51° W., this ice

stream has an average length of 1,850 miles at its maximum extent, and an

average velocity of seven and one-half miles per day. The East Greenland

pack is fed by polar pack and arctic drift ice in direct discharge from

the Arctic Sea and the Barents and Kara seas, winter ice formed in the Green–

land Sea, and fast ice made locally along the bordering coasts of Greenland.

        The most formidable part of this ice stream, that which is clearly

distinguishible from the ice of all other sources, is the very old floe ice

which commonly floats from 8 to 10 and at times 12 feet above the water,

and probably has only about one-quarter of its total thickness exposed. It

is this ice, referred to by the Danes as storis (literally, “large ice”),

which represents the dwindling remains of the polar pack ice.

        The position of the ice limit off the ea s t coast of Greenland is very

strongly affected by the direction and velocity of the prevailing winds.

Winds blowing from points between east and south press the ice into a com–

pact belt against the coast, while northerly and northwesterly winds expand

the ice eastward. An outstanding feature of this ice cover is the northward–

extending arm of open water to the west of Spitsbergen. This is undoubtedly

a reflection of the counteracting effects of the poleward-extending warm

waters of the North Atlantic drift.

        During September and early October, the East Greenland pack has usually

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shrunk to its minimum position. In most years, early October will find

coastal navigation possible along eastern Greenland northward to 70°, and

only a few scattered icebergs are to be expected south of 68°. During the

month the East Greenland pack begins its southward advance, probably passing

the entrance to Scoresby Sound, but seldom extending south of 65° N. The

formation of new fast ice varies considerably from season to season, but it

certainly may be expected to have closed navigation in a majority of the

fjords northward of Angmagssalik, and to be well advanced southward of that

point during this month.

        In early November the unnavigable pack of drift ice will in most seasons

have passed Angmagssalik, and by the latter part of the month have closed

in tightly against the coast. At least a narrow advance guard of this ice

stream will have attained a position somewhere to the southward between

Angmagssalik and Cape Farewell. In extremely heavy ice years it has been

known to round the cape and begin its recurved northward drift up the west

coast as far as Arsuk.

        By December the scattered blocks and floes of drifting ice, which pro–

vide a vanguard for the approaching storis , will almost certainly appear off

Cape Farewell. A belt with an average width of 30 miles offshore may be

expected southward from Angmagssalik, and an even broader stream farther north.

        The time at which the first storis rounds Cape Farewell and, under the

influence of the current, begins its northward advance, is extremely variable.

This has been known to occur as early as November, and as late as mid-April, but

the average date falls in the middle of January. The southwestern coast from

Julianehaab northward to Sukkertoppen will probably be unobstructed in January ,

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although fast ice will be increasing in the inner fjords. In severe seasons

the pack has been known to have rounded Cape Farewell northward to Frederiks–

haab, and with northerly winds to be scattered as such as 80 miles to the

south of Cape Farewell. The Baffin Bay pack from the northwest will gen–

rally have reached the coast in the district of Egedesminde. Off East

Greenland the pack ice belt will probably be wider than in December, but

the open channel between it and northwestern Iceland may be expected to

be over 70 miles wide.

        In February the pack should have begun its northwestward advance from

Cape Farewell, passing Julianehaab Bay. Winds have an important effect

on the pack’s position and movement and after rounding Cape Farewell it

will not always regain inshore. Although the strong arctic current which

curls northward around Cape Farewell appears to maintain control over its

icy burden, there being no evidence of any part of the East Greenland pack

ever escaping westward into American waters, northwesterly winds may carry

the ice enough out into Davis Strait to be out of sight of land. The

northern limit of the pack will hold a much more advanced positi o n with

southerly winds than is the case if northerly winds prevail. During per–

sistent northerly winds the outer edge of the pack may be 75 to 100 miles

off shore, although a position some 60 miles from the coast is more normal.

        In most seasons, the Baffin Bay pack and the coastal fast ice will

have closed the last of the West Greenland ports from Holsteinsborg north

by mid-January, but those to the south of that point generally remain ac–

cessible. Largely as a result of stormy weather, snow, low temperatures,

and darkness, the ports of southwestern Greenland have not been used from

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late November to April. This period of closed navigation has given rise

to the commonly accepted belief that these ports were icebound in the winter

season. 5 Although most of the constricted inner waters of this coast are

closed by heavy winter ice, many of the outer fjords have no ice at all, and

the exigencies of war have recently demonstrated that almost all of the major

coastal harbors as far north as 66°, including Julianehaab, Ivigtut, Frederiks–

haab, Fiskernaes, Faeringerhavn, Godthaab, and Sukkertoppen are usually avail–

able so far as ice is concerned throughout the year.

        The interesting suggestion has been advanced by Charcot and Stefansson

that because the increasing cold makes the arctic ice crowding into the

Greenland Sea between [ ?] Spitsbergen and Northeast Foreland less mobile,

and therefore more scattered southward, the northeast coast of Greenland,

between latitudes 75° and 80° N., might be more accessible between February

and April than at any other time. It is reasoned that at this time a ship

could thread its way through the scattered storis to the margin of the im–

mobile fast ice, and from there communicate with the shore.

        By March the storis will generally have passed somewhat northward of

Arsuk. Above Julianehaab, the pack ice is deflected westward by the prominent

island of Nunarssuit and cannot resume its northwestward movement until it has

cleared the southwestern point of that island. These forced changes in the

direction of the ice-bearing current commonly create large openings in the

5. The basically erroneous concept that the harbors of this coast were unavail–

able after the last week in November was attested by the reports of many Danish

sea captains. It is probably fair to observe that in their preoccupation with

the possibility of being home in Denmark for Christmas, many of these seamen

had a compelling reason to convince their government officials of the notion

that navigation became dangerous and difficult at this time.

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ice belt off Nunarssuit. As a result it is often possible for ships to make

their way through the pack off this island and gain access to the cryolite

mine of Ivigtut, while an attempt to negotiate the ice either to the north

or south of this point might be quite impossible. If direct penetration of

the pack to Arsuk Fjord is not possible in this manner it will probably be

feasible to sail northward around the northern end of the ice stream, and

subsequently follow southward again between the inner margin of the pack

and the coast. Quite commonly and especially in seasonswith light easterly

winds, the pack ice belt will not touch the coast north of Nunarssuit.

        In April the main mass of heavy storis begins its advance northward

from Cape Farewell, and the average position of the northern limit of the

pack, its outer margin about 60 miles offshore, may be expect e d to reach

Fiskernaes. In especially light years the northern margin of the ice may

still be south of Julianehaab, while in severe years it has been known to

extend over one hundred miles off the coast all the way to Godthaab. By mid–

April the fast ice of the inner fjords along the southwestern coast of Green–

land will begin to break up.

        Off East Greenland in April and May the ice limit reaches its maximum

position eastward, and generally extends from the northwestern tip of Spits–

bergen southwestward past Jan Mayen to a little north of Iceland, in some

years it will lie much farther east, blockade the north coast of Iceland, and

rarely even extend down the east coast of that island. In other seasons,

however, in the vicinity of 75° N., the eastern limit may hold a position as far

w est as 10° W.

        The pack ice limit off southwestern Greenland generally reaches its maximum

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extent is May, or possibly early June. On the average, May will find the

ice extending almost to Godthaab, although very light ice years have been

known when it did not reach north of Cape Desolation. The outer limit of

the pack is usually somewhat farther off the coast than in April, though

the belt itself does not generally exceed 50 miles in width. Over a period

of 110 years of observation (1820-1929) the positions of the maximum north–

ward extensions of the pack along the southwest coast were as follows:

Egedesminde, 2 years; Sukkertoppen, 6 years; Godthaab, 44 years; Fiskernaes,

28 years; Frederikshaab, 15 years; Arsuk, 8 years; south of Arsuk, or incomplete

data, 7 years. The maximum western extensions of the pack in Davis Strait

during the same period were: 59° to 58° W., 7 years; 56° to 57° W., 23 years;

55° to 54° W., 29 years; 53° to 52° W., 27 years; 51° to 50° W., 8 years;

east of 50° W., or incomplete data, 16 years.

        June may be expected to witness a general decrease in the extent of

storis all along the coast, and an inverse recession in the manner of its

original advance sets in. Although the storis may be at its heaviest in the

waters off Cape Farewell in this month, having been met as much as 200 miles

offshore, the northward extension of the pack may be expected to have re–

treated to a position near Frederikshaab. This average, however, separates

such extremes as positions almost as far north as Sukkertoppen, and no

farther north than Julianehaab Bay.

        Off last Greenland the ice belt will be narrower than in May and the

pack more open. The ice is characteristically much heavier north of 75°

than farther south, and while the entire east coast is generally inaccessible

in this month, mild years have been recorded when heavily built vessels could

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have made the coast anywhere from Angmagssalik southward in mid-June. By

contrast, in some years Jan Mayen has been included within the ice belt as

late as July.

        July witnesses an increasingly pronounced shrinkage of the extent of

the storis . Not only is the ice belt narrower, but its northern margin is

not likely to lie beyond Nunarssuit by the 15th and, in some years, by the

end of the month has cleared from the west coast entirely. In severe years

the storis still extends to Fiskernaes. There is also a very pronounced

wastage of the pack off last Greenland in July. The ice belt typically

dwindles to the width of 10 to 15 miles, its outer margins become scattered

and, particularly with northwest winds, a lane opens inshore south of 68° N.

As often as every third year the coast off Angmagssalik will became ice-free

by the end of the month, and it may be possible to reach Myggbukta and

Scoresby Sound before the first of August.

        The view has long been held that in the so-called “North Bay” between

73° and 75° N., the pack is characteristically more scattered than elsewhere

along the East Greenland coast, and that ships approaching from the east

can reach the shore more easily here than to the southward. It has been the

practice, therefore, for ships sailing for Scoresby Sound to enter the pack

north of that destination and work their way southward. In recent years,

however, ice conditions have been such as to permit a more direct approach.

Great caution is required for ships attempting to thread their way through

this East Greenland pack since floes 20 [ ?] or 30 feet in thickness are not

uncommon, and if the tortuous leads of open water are suddenly closed by un–

favorable winds, the ship may be lost. This is also true in following the

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open water leads along the coast, since shifting winds may bring crushingly

heavy ice in against the shore in a matter of a few hours.

        In August the southwest coast of Greenland way be entirely free of

ice, although the final recession from a position off Julianehaab to Cape

Farewell may take place in this month. The distance of the ice margin off

Cape Farewell seldom exceeds 30 miles. Off the east coast, everywhere

south of Scoresby Sound, the belt of ice will be narrow, and in at least

half of the years the coast from Angmagsaalik southward will be largely

ice-free. The breakup of the fast ice will probably extend as far north–

ward as Cape Bismarck, and there is likely to be open water off Scoresby

Sound, Kaiser Franz Josef Fjord, and Dove Bay, although north of Shannon

Island the fast ice does not break up every year. In extremely unfavorable

years the ice belt in August, as far south as Angmagssalik, has been so ex–

tensive that no open water could be seen from the thousand-foot hills of

the coast.

        By September the southwest coast should be free of drift ice and should

continue to be so for the remainder of the year. The pack will probably

have receded to, or past, Angmagssalik by the middle of the month, and is

likely to have cleared Scoresby Sound by the end of August. September again

initiates the generally most favorable period for shipping all along the

East Greenland coast.

        In considering the cycle of ice conditions just discussed, particular

attention is called to the series of charts showing the extreme limits of ice

in the North Atlantic region. The enormous year-to-year variations from the

conditions defined as “average” can not be over-emphasized. The arctic

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navigator must expect the unexpected, and be prepared to cope with it at

all times.

        Although drifting pack ice is present in varying amounts along the

Greenland side of Denmark Strait during most of the year, it is a rela–

tively more uncommon occurrence for it to approach Iceland inside the 100-

fathom curve, some 40 to 50 miles offshore, When ice does come to the coast

of Iceland it is not likely to [ ?]remain long, and appears most frequently in

April and May when the East Greenland pack attains its maximum proportions.

Of the 109 years of record, 54 of them were ice-free or had ice of less than

a month’s duration. It has been noted that in the years when ice has lasted

more than a month in Icelandic waters, it has generally made its initial

appearance in January or February. The ice which may menace the coasts of

Iceland is generally brought in by winds from the west and northwest, and

appears first at North Cape. If the ice masses are large enough they are

carried along the north coast, piling up against Melrakkasletta and Langanes

where the fields often disintegrate. If sufficient ice keeps pressing in from

the west, however, it has been known to pass northward around Langanes and

follow down along the east coast. Here it may, under the influence of

easterly winds, block the fjords as far south as Gerpir. Inordinately

severe seasons have seen this ice drift to and around Eystrahorn, and as far

west along the south coast as Vestmannaeyjar.

        When the ice masses around North Cape are especially large, some of the

fields say occasionally move southward along the west coast, filling the Isa

Fjord basin. Navigation is rarely impeded south of this on the west coast,

although some ice has been known to drift as far as Patreks Fjord.

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        Observations indicate that Jan Mayen is generally lee-free during the

fall and winter. The pack ice rarely arrives at the island before March

or April and then does not usually remain for extended periods. The records

show that by coincidence Jan Mayan has happened to be most easily accessible

in the early spring period of a number of the very same years that found

the coasts of Iceland most heavily encumbered.

        In addition to sea ice the East Greenland Current also carries a pro–

cession of icebergs southward to and around Cape Farewell from the tidewater

glaciers of the East Greenland fjords. Most of these bergs come from the

glaciers of Scoresby Sound and the fjords northward to Dove Bay. They begin

to arrive in quantity off Cape Farewell in April, and continue to be numerous

there until August when their numbers decrease quite abruptly.

        They are generally held off the coast by the advancing storis , and even

though several hundreds have been sighted from a ship at one time off Cape

Farewell, they do not spread southward into the North Atlantic. Some of

these bergs do follow the storis drift as far up the southwest coast of Green–

land as Godthaab, but generally no farther than Frederikshaab. Apparently

under the influence of the East Iceland Current, a number of bergs drift into

the waters north of Iceland, and ships navigating Denmark Strait may en–

counter them at any time.

       

The Northeastern North American Pack

        The second of the two major ice streams carrying ice from high latitudes

to the North Atlantic is the northeastern North American pack. Marshalling

its forces in northern Baffin Bay, and following the eastern littoral of the

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continent southward along the eastern shores of Baffin Island, Labrador,

and Newfoundland, this belt of drifting pock ice reaches a maximum length

of approximately two thousand miles and travels at an average velocity of

12 1/2 miles a day.

        It is estimated that about 60% of the ice in this southward-flowing

pack finds its origin in the prolific ice production region of Baffin Bay

and Davis Strait. Approximately an additional 30% of the total supply con–

sists of formidable floes of Arctic Sea origin, received through the narrow

defile between Greenland and Ellesmere Island and, more indirectly, via Jones

and Lancaster sounds from the tortuous passageways of the archipelago to the

westward. The remaining 10% of the total contribution comes from the important

tributary flow of drift ice issuing from Hudson Strait to join the main stream

off Cape Chidley.

        A number of intimately related basic factors combine to permit the oc–

currence and define the essential character and behavior of this great ice

stream: ( 1 ) the geographical arrangement and position of the North American

land masses surrounding the elongated shallow basin of Baffin Bay which, with

its openings at the north and the south, acts as a great funnel for the southward

movement of arctic ice; ( 2 ) the wide continental shelf off Labrador and New–

foundland which serves as a broad highway for the pack to travel; ( 3 ) the strong

southward-flowing Labrador Current, the agent of transportation; and ( 4 ) the

low water temperatures of the continental shelf from Baffin Bay to the Grand

Banks, which play a part not only in the formation of ice but provide for its

survival in the advance southward. It is the increasing warmth of summer and

the shrinking supplies of ice in that season that, together with the lateral

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disruptions of the pack off Hudson Strait, and other tributary waterways

on its western flank, sufficiently counteract these factors to prevent an

uninterrupted flow of ice southward past Newfoundland throughout the year.

        The central reservoir of ice, the Baffin Bay pack, reaches its greatest

extent in March or April and dwindles to its minimum in August and September.

During its period of maximum growth in an average year it covers fully four–

fifths of the surface of Baffin Bay, an area of approximately 165,000 square

miles. Swelling from its central area in the western and middle waters of

Baffin Bay, it characteristically reaches across to the West Greenland coast

as far south as Egedesminde or Holsteinsborg. This pack is commonly referred

to as the “ West Ice ” (originally so designated as Vestis by the Danes) to dis–

tinguish it from the so-called “ East Ice ” or storis , which, as has already been

indicated, reaches the southwestern coast of Greenland from the east.

        Although the extent of their occurrence varies considerably from one year

to the next, the ice cover of Baffin Bay is commonly broken by considerable

areas of open water which persist throughout the winter. The best known of

these, and the most regular in its appearance from year to year, is the “North

Water” of the northern end of Baffin Bay at the entrance to Smith Sound. Of

great interest since the days of the early whalers, the reason for the appear–

ance of this much discussed polynya has never been thoroughly explained. The two

most commonly offered suggestions are: ( 1 ) that it is formed at the point of

emergence of an upwelling source of warm water, which has proceeded to this

district in northern Baffin Bay with a low-level current from the Atlantic be–

neath the colder waters of Davis Strait; or, ( 2 ) that while the heavy ice of

Smith Sound is strong enough to hold its position, a southward-flowing current

018      |      Vol_VII-0794                                                                                                                  
EA-Oc. Weaver: Arctic Ice

carries the ice away in the area just to the south, leaving an intervening

gap of open water. There is no observational data either to support or

disprove the first of these two hypotheses, and it is conceivable that the

basic explanation of the “North Water” could be neither or a combination

of both of the above listed factors.

        As elsewhere in the Arctic, late September and early October will gen–

erally witness the initial stages of the new cycle of ice formation and

growth. Through the formation of new ice locally, and augmented by the

arrival of floes from Smith, Jones, and Lancaster sounds, the area of pack

in Baffin Bay may be expected to begin its expansion in October. The pack

will probably close in against the Baffin Island coast as far south as the

mouth of Cumberland Sound, although a lane of open water should still exist

between the pack and the coast of Greenland all the way north to Melville

Bay. Fast ice will begin to form in the bays and fjords of the coasts as

far south as Hopedale harbor in Labrador, and navigation along the Baffin

Island coast northward from Frobisher Bay will be closed by the end of the

month.

        In November the southward-swelling Baffin Bay pack will have passed

Cumberland Sound and Frobisher Bay and, off Cape Chidley, will join the first

forerunners of the pack from Foxe Channel which are beginning to emerge from

the eastern entrance of Hudson Strait. At first as scattered floes and open

stringers, and subsequently as an increasingly powerful stream, these com–

bined packs may be expected to arrive on the northern Labrador shelf before

the end of the month. Fast ice, growing rapidly out along the isla n d-studded

shore of Labrador to meet the margin of the pack, will close navigation

019      |      Vol_VII-0795                                                                                                                  
EA-Oc. Weaver: Arctic Ice

southward to Hamilton Inlet. The Strait of Belle Isle will still be open in

most years, although in particularly severe seasons it has [ ?]been closed to

navigation by the end of this month.

        The West Ice normally closes in on the Greenland coast south to Uper–

nivik in November, preventing access to Melville Bay. Strong fast ice

will have formed in the western fjords of Greenland as far south as Umanak,

and perhaps, also in the inner recesses of Disko Bay.

        During December navigation ceases in the inside channels of the Labrador

coast. The fast ice belt now reaches out beyond the island, its outer margin

in contact with the heavy southward-streaming northeastern North American

pack, which in this month generally reaches to, or slightly beyond, the entrance

to Hamilton Inlet. Newly formed fast ice, perhaps together with a vanguard

of northern drift ice, will quite likely close the Strait of Belle Isle, and

the Gulf of St. Lawrence will be rapidly filling with river and gulf ice.

Shipping to Montreal and Quebec, and to most of the ports in the Gulf itself,

is normally suspended in this month.

        Fast ice forms during December in the fjords of West Greenland as far

south as Sukkertoppen. Owing to the rough and stormy weather which normally

characterizes this month, the fast ice cover of Disko Bay may be broken up

several times, and does not finally “set” until the West Ice closes in off

the entrance to the bay in the last days of the month. In an average season

the West Ice will have frozen to the seaward margin of the fast ice southward

to Umanak, and will have moved down along the coast to Egedesminde.

        During January, though perhaps not until early February, the heavy pack

ice drift will have passed the Strait of Belle Isle, where its width may be

020      |      Vol_VII-0796                                                                                                                  
EA-Oc. Weaver: Arctic Ice

one hundred miles or more, and will have arrived on the northern flanks of

the Grand Banks off southern Newfoundland. Fast ice will have formed and

navigation will be generally blocked along the eastern coast of Newfoundland

northward of St. John’s. A rather considerable amount of northern pack ice

enters the Gulf of St. Lawrence through the Strait of Belle Isle, though

just how great its proportion to the total ice mixture of the Gulf may be

is not known.

        During this month, and as the flood of ice increases later in February

and March, the pack tends to separate as it meets the northern buttress of

the Grand Banks. One branch follows inshore to the southwestward past Cape

Race and may, in years of abundant ice, swing westward around the cape to

block the bays and harbors of southern Newfoundland as far as St. Pierre

and Miquelon. The harbor at St. John’s and the ports of the south coast of

Newfoundland, however, are not inaccessible to navigation for more than a

few days at a time in an average season.

        The second, and by far the heavier branch of the ice stream, moves

southward along the outside eastern margin of the Grand Banks. This portion

of the flow, which carries high latitude sea ice to a more southerly position than is attained anywhere else in the Northern

Hemisphere, may in heavy ice years follow the margins of the Grand Banks

southward to the “Tail” at the 43rd parallel. Almost invariably, however,

the most southerly extensions of this ice drift become open and scattered,

and their existence will be of short duration.

        Another source of drifting ice in the western North Atlantic is the

Gulf of St. Lawrence via Cabot Strait. Beginning in January, the main body

of this pack, moving out past Cape North and Scatari Island, will spread

021      |      Vol_VII-0797                                                                                                                  
EA-Oc. Weaver: Arctic Ice

southwar r d toward Sable Island, and later in the season may reach, or even

surround that position. Such extreme outliers are not generally considered

to be a menace to navigation, however. A small and generally lighter branch

of this pack may move southwest along the coast of Nova Scotia, sometimes

as far as Halifax. At rare intervals it may even approach Cape Sable.

        In January the southern and western margins of the West Ice will

probably lie about 15 miles off the coast of West Greenland somewhere between

Egedesminde and Sukkertoppen, though in the severe season of 1934 it at–

tained an extreme position off Frederikshaab. In many years, in this month,

an open lane of water say exist between the coastal fast ice and the West Ice

as far north as Disko Bay.

        Succeeding the culminating crescendo of ice in late March and early

April, when the West Ice may have joined the winter fast ice in maximum ex–

tension as far south along the West Greenland coast as Sukkertoppen, and

when the southern margins of the northeastern North American and Gulf of

St. Lawrence packs have reached their fullest development in the North

Atlantic waters off Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, the inevitable recession

of the annual cycle sets in. Although Davis and Hudson straits are still

completely blocked by heavy pack ice, and while the steadily flowing broad

belt of close pack off the coast of Labrador still feeds massive and dan–

gerous accumulations of ice onto the Grand Banks, the latter weeks of April may

be expected to witness evidences of retreat. The west Ice will probably have

retired from its contact with the winter ice of the West Greenland coast as

far north as Disko Bay, and perhaps even Upernivik. The fast ice in the

fjords of the coast northward to Egedesminde will have begun to break up.

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The pack ice off Newfoundland will be receding toward the northeast corner

of the Grand Banks, but it is still an imposing spectacle and a considerable

hazard to shipping.

        In an average year the middle of April will see the coming end of winter

conditions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Associ a ted with this break-up, and

lasting for three or possibly four weeks, there is likely to be a great rush

of ice out of the Gulf through Cabot Strait. The volume of the ice and the

narrowness of the defile through which it makes its escape, frequently

cause the piling up of an impenetrable ice barrier across Cabot Strait, and

may thereby prevent ships from entering the Gulf until as late as the middle

of May. Normally, however, navigation into and through the Gulf will open

in late April, or perhaps more commonly in early May.

        During May the pack ice will retreat from the northern margins of the

Grand Banks, although it will probably still lie across the entrance to the

Strait of Belle Isle, and extend down along the northeastern shores of New–

foundland. The last of the ice in the lower Gulf of St. Lawrence will finally

disappear, the actual time being dependent upon the nature of the winds and

temperatures of the particular season. The pack ice belt off the coast of

Labrador will have became noticeably narrower, and the West Ice, though per–

haps not standing far offshore, will have pulled back from the west coast

of Greenland as far north as the Vaigat. Before the end of the month the

winter ice in the outer part of Disko Bay, and the fjord entrances as far

north as Upernivik, will have begun to break up.

        This diminution of the pack volume continues along the Labrador coast

in June, and the southern margin normally retreats sufficiently to permit

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transatlantic steamers to enter the Strait of Belle Isle after the 15th of the

month. Occasional scattered float or pans of ice say still persist southward

to the northern margins of the Brand Banks. The fiords and inner passageways

of the Labrador coast generally clear of fast ice sufficiently to permit

navigation northward inside the pack to Hamilton Inlet.

        During June the strong currents from the reopening waters of Hudson

Strait create a lateral pressure on the western flank of the northeastern

North American pack which tends to sever and scatter the dwindling reinforce–

ments to Labrador from the north. This is a very important factor in hasten–

ing the dissolution of the pack ice on the Labrador shelf.

        June, along the West Greenland coast, brings the final break-up of fast

ice northward of Disko Bay and Upernivik, and, although the West Ice may lie

no more than 70 to 80 miles northwestward of the coast even at Egedesminde,

the sea along the old margin of contact between the shore ice and the West

Ice may be navigable all the way to Melville Bay. A commencement of the

break-up of the fast ice in Smith Sound during this month may result in the

temporary choking of the North Water.

        During July the pack, which at the beginning of the month may still have

its scattered southern margin across the eastern entrance of Hudson Strait,

will probably have cleared that position by the middle, or certainly the end

of the month. In most years the entire Labrador coast will become navigable,

although the last scattered fragments of the pack, and the final vestiges

of the fast ice may still encumber the north coast. Occasionally unfavorable

seasons have been known, however, when shipping along the entire Labrador

coast has been hampered throughout the summer.

024      |      Vol_VII-0800                                                                                                                  
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        To the northward in Davis Strait and Baffin Bay, July conditions are ex–

tremely variable from year to year, but on the average the West Ice may be

expected to retreat to a position some 70 to 80 miles off the West Greenland

coast, and it should be possible to navigate without difficulty along the

eastern side of Baffin Bay northward to Smith Sound; possibly even to the

eastern entrance to Lancaster Sound, From this month forward to October,

the West Greenland coast should be free of sea ice northward to the inner

recesses of Melville Bay. The fast ice along the west coast of Baffin Island,

from Frobisher Bay and Cumberland Sound on the south, to Pond Inlet on the

north, also begins to break up during July, although the trading posts at such

places as Ward Inlet, Pangnirtung, Clyde Inlet, and Pond Inlet are generally

not available to ships until August because of the dwindling, but still powerful

Baffin Bay pack lying against the coast.

        In Au g ust and September the last vestiges of sea ice should have practically

disappeared from the waters south of Cape Mercy on Baffin Island, and from the

frist weeks of August to the days in late September when the fast ice once

again begins to form, the waters of Baffin Bay and Davis Strait become more

nearly ice-free than at any other time. Heavy ice may persist in the center

of Baffin Bay, and however small the area of residual pack may be, and however

open its outer margins, its central core is characteristically made up of heavy

ice of Arctic Sea origin, and it should be scrupulously avoided by navigators.

        The coastal waters of Greenland on the east, and those of Baffin Island on

the west should be navigable in all but the most unfavorable seasons. Unfavor–

able winds may at any time carry the pack ice of the middle of the bay in against

the Baffin Island shore, making the trading posts of this coast at least

025      |      Vol_VII-0801                                                                                                                  
EA-Oc. Weaver: Arctic Ice

temporarily inaccessible, and fast ice is likely to persist along the northern

shores of Melville Bay, even though the bay itself is navigable. Koch

estimates that some of the Melville Bay fjords east of Cape York have fast

ice which dies not break up oftener than five or six times in a century.

        Craig Harbour, on Jones Sound, is generally accessible from the middle

of August to the middle of September, and if the heavy ice to the northward

in upper Smith Sound, Kane Basin, Kennedy Channel, Ball Basin, and Robeson

Channel is to break up at all, it will be in this period. The great ice jams

in the southern approaches to Kane Basin and in the above listed waterways

northward of Cape Sabine, however, present the greatest danger for even the

most powerful ships. Although vessels have successfully navigated northward

to a position at 82° N., in Robeson Channel, there are years when the waters

north of Cape Sabine do not open at all. It is to the vagaries of the

northern ice in this hazardous region that the tragic fate of such expedi–

tions as that of Greely bear so eloquent testimony.

        One very important element in the total picture of ice in the north–

eastern North American region which has not yet been mentioned, and one which

is intimately related to the previously discussed behavior of sea ice, is

the enormous van of icebergs produced in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait to be

distributed southward to the sea lanes of the North Atlantic. Nowhere else

in the world are icebergs produced in so great a number, nor is their ultimate

destination so is important to navigation, and while the complex matters related

to their formation and distribution can not be dealt with adequately in this

discussion, they can hardly be omitted from mention.

        Of the some 150 to 175 sizeable glaciers which reach tidewater along the

026      |      Vol_VII-0802                                                                                                                  
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western coast of Greenland, perhaps 15% produce icebergs capable of

reaching the north Atlantic. It is estimated that the annual production

of large bergs in this region is about 7,500, of which approximately 72%

are calved from the glacier fronts of Disko and Northeast (Nordost) bays,

20% from the Melville Bay sector between Svarten Huk and Cape York, 4%

from the coast between cape York and Cape Alexander, 2% from the Humboldt

Glacier of Kane Basin, and an additional 2% from the North American side

on Ellesmere Island.

        When they are released from the bays in which they were produced by

the break-up of the fast ice in June or July, or even later, they begin

on the circuitous route which may carry them ultimately to the North At–

lantic. Because of their enormous size, and the depth of water which

they draw, the movement of these bergs is primarily governed by currents.

Wind seems to have little effect upon them, at least until that time when

they have, through melting and disintegration, been reduced to extremely

shallow draft. At the time of their emergence from the West Greenland

fjords, they are caught up in the cyclonic circulation of the waters of

Baffin Bay and proceed northward up the coast. On this .journey they may

move as far as 78° N. in Smith Sound before coming under the influence

of the southward-moving waters of the American coast.

        Along the pathway which the bergs follow are innumerable traps which

they must elude if they are to make the complete trip southward, such as

shallow waters, projecting points, and tributary waterways. Many are car–

ried by the indraft of water through the eastern entrance of Hudson Strait

and along its northern shore. A considerable number of these return to

027      |      Vol_VII-0803                                                                                                                  
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the Labrador shelf along the southern margin of the strait after their

extended detour. Significant numbers are deflected through the strait

of Belle Isle into the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence, where they disinte–

grate. The major stream, under the influence of the Labrador Current, like

the pack ice, passes down along the Newfoundland coast to reach the Grand

Banks. Here on the northern flank of the wide sub et te rranean continental

margin, three major tracks of distribution may be distinguished. One of

these berg streams, like a similar branch of the pack ice, follows the

Newfoundland coast to, and possibly around, Cape Race. The bergs drift–

ing on this course do not seem to move farther west than Placentia Bay,

and large accumulations of disintegrating, grounded bergs may be found

in the Cape Race region every season.

        A second group of hundreds of bergs goes aground on the northern

margin of the central Grand Banks. There they begin to disintegrate. As

the draft of these bergs grows shallower, they may be carried still farther

into the shoal waters to disappear entirely, or when ungrounded they may

rejoin the major stream eastward and southward.

        The largest of the three outstanding berg tracks, and the one which

provides the greatest menace to shipping, is the one which continues south–

ward around the outside eastern margin of the Grand Banks. The axis of

this stream tends to follow westward around the “Tail” at the southern

end of the Grand Banks, although there are many variant tracks in dif–

ferent months and different seasons.

        While occasional bergs may be met off southern Newfoundland in any

month of the year, they reach a very definite maximum number between

028      |      Vol_VII-0804                                                                                                                  
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mid-March and mid-July, and a decided minimum from mid-October to mid-February.

Over the 41-year period, from 1900 to 1941, the average annual number of bergs

sighted south of the 48th parallel in the Grand Banks region was 428. In

extreme years this has varied [ ?] from 0 to well in excess of 1,300 bergs, Ice–

bergs of all sizes, shapes, and descriptions have been seen throughout the

more than 2,000-mile pathway which they follow from West Greenland to the

Grand Banks. With reference to their varied appearance, Sverdrup has com–

mented: “There is nothing between heaven and earth that has not taken on from

in the mighty fantasy of cold.”

       

Hudson Bay and Strait

        The ice found in the narrow waters of Hudson Strait for 8 or 9 months

each year is derived from four major sources. The stoat important of these

is the previously discussed northeastern North American pack, which, flowing

southward off the eastern entrance to the strait, contributes a formidable

array of heavy floes and bergs. The current movements branching off from

the main Labrador stream carry tremendous quantities of ice through Gabriel

Strait, as well as southward around Resolution Island, to move westward along

the northern shores of Hudson Strait. With the aid of easterly winds the

ice will be carried westward as far as Big Island before being caught up in

the easterly flowing waters along the south coast of the strait to be car–

ried out past Cape Chidley and a rejoining of the main pack on the Labrador

shelf. The icebergs, which take this westerly detour from the main Baffin

Bay-Labrador route, are most plentiful between Resolution and Big Island,

though they are set anywhere between Resolution and Charles islands, and may

029      |      Vol_VII-0805                                                                                                                  
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occasionally even make their way westward as far as Nottingham Island, before

starting their return journey along the southern side of the strait.

        “Foreign ice” gains admittance to Hudson Strait from the western end as

well as the eastern. The second important source of the heavy floe ice in

the strait is received from Foxe Basin via Foxe Channel. Much of this ice

is formed locally in Foxe Basin, an area of prolific ice production, but

very heavy reinforcements of old arctic ice are also received from the con–

gested masses of the Gulf of Boothia via Fury and Hecla Strait. This admix–

ture of ice poured into the western end of Hudson strait through Foxe Channel

will in large part have thicknesses varying from 7 to 19 feet, with occasional

floes ranging up to 30 feet. Flowing in a southeasterly direction between

Southampton Island and Foxe Peninsula, this ice drifts toward Nottingham

Island and Cape Wolstenholme and proceeds eastward on the southern side of

the strait. At times it effectively closes Evans Strait and the western end

of Hudson Strait between Digges and Nottingham islands, but it seldom, if ever,

enters Hudson Bay proper. It is probable that the contributions of ice from

this sector are received largely during the spring, summer, and autumn periods.

Owing to heavy freezing in this almost completely enclosed catchment area, it

is assumed that the ice of Foxe Basin is rather generally held fast from Decem–

ber, or at least January, to May.

        A third important source of ice in Hudson Strait is the fast ice formed

locally each winter. Increasingly broad belts are formed on both the northern

and southern shores of the strait as winter progresses. The central portion

of the strait, serving as it does as a gigantic sluiceway for the pack ice

entering from both east and west, does not freeze over. Broad Ungava Bay like–

wise is not covered by a solid sheet of fast ice.

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        The fourth and final source of ice in Hudson Strait is Hudson Bay,

where large quantities of ice are manufactured every winter. The volume

received from this quarter, however, is believed to be cooperatively small

since apparently most of the ice formed in Hudson Bay disintegrates there.

        Unlike Hudson Strait, the ice of Hudson Bay is almost entirely winter

ice formed locally. Beginning in the fall of each year, fast ice forms in

the inlets and along the coasts, and in succeeding months builds a fringing

shelf outward into the bay. At the time of its maximum development this

belt of coastal ice extends off the shallow eastern shores for 60 or 70

miles to include the islands, and a distance of 1 to 7 miles elsewhere. Until

[ ?] quite recently it has been believed that the entire central portion of the

bay did not freeze, and that save for the drifting floes broken away from

the coastal fast ice, it was generally ice-free. Aerial reconnaissance in

recent years, however, has indicated that vast fields of ice do form, in some

years at least, over the central sector, although in such instances there is

commonly open water between these masses and the shore ice.

        The Hudson Bay fast ice normally attains thicknesses of [ ?]from 3 to 5 feet.

Periodic storms, however, break the shore ice up along its outer margins, and

heavy winds may pile sheets on top of one another, resulting in rafted ice

thicknesses of several tens of feet.

        Although navigation is generally possible throughout almost the entire

Hudson Bay and Strait region in October, this month usually witnesses the

beginning of the ice season. In Roe’s Welcome Sound, Repulse Bay, and Wager

Bay to the northwest, winter ice begins to form early in October, and naviga–

tion will probably be closed by the middle, or certainly the end of the month.

031      |      Vol_VII-0807                                                                                                                  
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Elsewhere, in Hudson Bay northward from Churchill on the west and port Har–

rison on the east, and in Hudson Strait, fast ice begins to form in the

latter part of this month.

        In November, at almost any time after the first of the month, the Baffin

Bay pack may be expected to envelop the eastern entrance to Hudson Strait.

In some years its arrival off and entry into the strait may be delayed by

southerly or westerly winds, but it normally appears early in the month.

The Foxe Channel pack may also be entering the western entrance of the strait

during the first week in November, and be arriving via the south coast at

the eastern entrance two weeks later. Fast ice generally seals up the ports

of both the northern and southern sides of the strait by the middle of this

month, and local navigation is commonly regarded as being undependable, if

not impossible.

        From Chesterfield Inlet in the northwest, the southern shores of South–

ampton Island in the north, and Mansel Island and Cape Smith in the northeast,

where the fast ice begins to set in heavily at the beginning of November, to

James Bay on the south, where its formation is delayed until the end of the

month, true winter conditions have usually brought the coastal navigation

season to an end everywhere by the first of December. Although, in mild

seasons, heavy fast ice has not formed in some of the Hudson Bay ports until

as late as Christmas, as much as three feet of solid young ice is to be ex–

pected in and around the harbor at Churchill in this month.

        Throughout the succeeding months, until reaching maximum development in

late March or early April, the ice throughout the region increases both in area

and in thickness. In James Bay, where the waters are shallower and fresher

032      |      Vol_VII-0808                                                                                                                  
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than elsewhere, the fast ice becomes especially thick and reaches out from

the shore to cover at least 50% of the bay. By the middle of February the

winter ice surrounding the Belcher Islands is joined to the fast ice belt

extending out from the eastern shore, a condition which normally persists

until the middle of April. The crowding shore ice and floes of Hudson Strait

reduce the open water of this seaway to only 15% of its total area, a condi–

tion of extreme congestion which may be expected to last from February to May.

        Sometimes in late April, but more commonly in May, the rivers of southern

Hudson Bay will begin to open, and throughout May and early June the ice gen–

erally begins to disintegrate. Characteristically, open water will appear

early along the tidal margins of the coast, separating the fast ice belt

from the shore line.

        By the first of June the fast ice of James Bay has usually broken up

sufficiently to permit coastal shipping by the first of the month. Northward

to the Belcher Islands, and to Fort Severn, fort Nelson, and Churchill along

the southwestern coast, the disintegration of the winter ice should be well

advanced by the middle or end of the month. Although, if as a result of a

stormy winter there has been considerable rafting of ice, its ultimate disap–

pearance may be delayed until July. Sever winters have been known when the

ice around the Belcher Islands has persisted until as late as August.

        During the first half of July, in most seasons, the last of the winter

fast ice, both in Hudson Bay and Strait, is likely to break up and only oc–

casional drifting patches still survive. To the northwest in Roe’s Welcome

Sound, Wager Bay, and Repulse Bay, the ice is likely to persist until August.

In many years July may find Hudson Strait still encumbered with drifting ice.

033      |      Vol_VII-0809                                                                                                                  
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A great deal depends on the winds of the particular season. With westerly

winds to aid in the disgorging of its floes into the North Atlantic, the

strait will clear earlier than if easterly winds prevail. In some unfavor–

able seasons the Baffin Bay pack may continue to enter the strait throughout

July, and, though in diminishing amounts, even during August, September, and

October. It is generally conceded, however, that in average years mid-July

should bring 90% open water and an unquestionably navigable Hudson Strait.

        There has probably never been a sore hotly debated question concerning

the navigability of ice-infested waters than that posed by the Hudson Bay route.

The railhead at Churchill brings the agricultural produce of the Canadian

Prairie Provinces many hundreds of miles closer to Liverpool than the conven–

tional transcontinental shipping route via Montreal, and greatly reduces

transshipment problems and expensive overland freighting. The usefulness of

the route obviously turns upon the problem of the navigability of this inner

continental deep-sea waterway.

        In the final analysis, since extensive observations in early summer and

late fall have not been made, and since experimental efforts with powerful

icebreakers in this region have not been undertak e n, the arguers of both sides

of the proposition have been reduced to what amounts to little more than per–

sonal opinion. The general consensus seems to be that in substantially every

season the navigation of this route is practical during the three months of

August, September, and October, and that in most years the last two weeks in

July, and the first two of November, can be added to the total of a four-month

navigation season. Conservative insurance companies will cover ships entering

the strait past Cape Chidley from August 5 to leaving Churchill October 15.

034      |      Vol_VII-0810                                                                                                                  
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        It seems clear that in many years it would be possible to reach

Churchill as early as June and to leave Hudson Strait as late as the end

of November, and there are s e veral individuals familiar with these waters

who feel that it would be possible to extend the navigation season to

include May and December. Indeed there are competent mariners, such as

Bernier, Smellie, and others, who have contended that, if serious attempts

to examine the essential validity of the matter were made, it could be

demonstrated that Hudson Bay and Strait are navigable throughout the year.

        Bajkov, who has painstakingly collected all of the broad diversity

of opinion on this subject, and who believes that at least “the period of

navigation from Churchill to England could be lengthened probably until

after Christmas,” makes the following interesting observation at the conclu–

sion of his valuable survey: “Even if they (Hudson Bay and Str ia ai t) are open,

there still remains the problem of finding a winter harbour suitable for

merchant ships. The only port of any commercial importance in the Bay is

Churchill. Its harbour is icebound from December to May, and at the end

of the winter the thickness of the ice may be in places up to seven feet.

This additional thickness is due to tidal water flowing over the ice.

        “The local ice conditions in Churchill harbour, in fact, decide the

closing date for navigation by the Bay route. Open water during the second

part of the winter extends to within three to one half miles from the shore —

three small miles that may render the remaining 2,933 to Liverpool imprac–

ticable for the winter months.” 6

6. Bajkov A. D., “The Ice Conditions of Hudson Bay,” The Beaver, March

1941, p. 19.

035      |      Vol_VII-0811                                                                                                                  
EA-Oc. Weaver: Arctic Ice

       

The Northwest Passages

        The maze of interconnecting waterways which separate the innumerable

islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago are, for ten or more months of

the year, choked by ice with two major sources of origin. The passageways

between the islands along the northwestern front of the archipelago, from

northern Ellesmere Island in the northeast to Mackenzie Bay in the southwest,

permit the steady infiltration of heavy Arctic Sea ice both into and through

this region. In addition to these tremendous receipts of ice from outside

the region, is the vast quantity of fast ice which forms locally during the

extended high latitude winter.

        By the middle of September, and in some seasons even earlier, fast

ice begins to set along the shores, and by the end of October the young ice

is usally sufficiently heavy to support coastwise sled communication through–

out the region. In succeeding months the winter ice grows out into the

straits and sounds, and if the separated islands are comparatively close

together they will be joined by an unbroken bridge of ice. Some of the

larger straits will not freeze over entirely, but their central portions

are effectively closed by crowding heavy ice from the Arctic Sea. From time

to time these floes will freeze together to provide a stationary connection

from shore to shore across even the broadest gulfs and straits.

        Ice thicknesses will increase until May, and possibly eves June.

Normally by at least the end of June the early signs of break-up begin to

appear along the margin of the continental mainland, probably first in

Mackenzie Bay off the distributary mouths of the Mackenzie River. Indeed

036      |      Vol_VII-0812                                                                                                                  
EA-Oc. Weaver: Arctic Ice

in some seasons the break-up of the Mackenzie at the head of the delta

occurs by the first of June or even in the closing weeks of May. It is

generally not until July, however, that the fast ice really begins to

loosen its hold on the waters of the southern part of the region. The

processes of disintegration a r e first most pronounced in Mackenzie Bay and

Coronation and Queen Mud gulfs in the extreme south, and in Pond, Navy

Board, and Admiralty inlets, and Lancaster Sound in the east.

        In the latter part of July or in early August the region generally

becomes accessible to ships from outside, 7 and while ice never completely

disappears from these inland waterways, the most open period may be ex–

pected between mid-August and mid-September. As so many explorers, traders,

and adventurers have learned by such bitter experience, however, the

observed behavior of the ice in these straits and sounds in one year can

be counted upon to guarantee nothing for the next. The months of August

and September are to be regarded as a potential and not a dependably demon–

strated navigation season even south of 76°, and north of that latitude,

or at any time prior to the last week in July or subsequent to the last

week in September, navigation, if not impossible, is to be counted as pre–

carious in the extreme, The successful movement of ships in these waters

is always in large measure dependent upon skilled and experienced navigation

techniques, but to no lesser extent upon the good fortunes associated with

a favorable season.

7. In saying that this region generally becomes accessible to ships from the

outside around the end of July or the first of August, is is not meant to

imply that ships have never attained positions within it at earlier dates.

For example, in at least one especially favorable season, Herschel Island has

been reached from around Point Barrow in early July.

037      |      Vol_VII-0813                                                                                                                  
EA-Oc. Weaver: Arctic Ice

        Groping their way northward along the eastern margin of the North American

continent in search of a Northwest Passage, the early explorers were ulti–

mately compelled to center their search in the tortuous waterways of this region.

The essential fact was soon discovered, that access to the region was practical

by one major route from each direction, Lancaster Sound on the east, and the

waters of the continental margin of Alaska and Mackenzie Bay on the west.

Between Lancaster Sound and Mackenzie Bay lie a variety of theoretical or ac–

complished routes of Northwest Passage around the American continent.

        The first discovered, and, with minor variations, still the seemingly

most practical navigation route through this region, is that which, beginning

in Lancaster Sound in the east, follows westward into Barrow Strait, and then

southward through Peel Sound, Franklin, Sir James Ross, and Rae straits to

the southeastern corner of King William Island, and then westward again through

Simpson Strait, Queen Maud Gulf, Dease Strait, Coronation Gulf, Dolphin and

Union Strait, Amundsen Gulf, Mackenzie Bay, and the Alaskan coastal waters

westward from Herschel Island. It is this route which Sir John Franklin so

nearly accomplished during the 1840’s. Having sailed through Lancaster Sound

and Barrow Strait, and taking Peel Sound to the southward into Franklin Strait,

this expedition made the fatal error of attempting to gain admittance to the

open waters of Queen Maud Gulf through Victoria Strait, rather than by the

then unknown waterways to the east and south of King William Island.

        As such men as Rae and Collinson in the early 1850’s, and M’Clintock

later in the same decade, were qu i ck to recognize, Victoria Strait could never

be considered to be a link in any Northwest Passage route, since the heavy ice

of Arctic Sea origin which enters the archipelago through M’Clure Strait and

038      |      Vol_VII-0814                                                                                                                  
EA-Oc. Weaver: Arctic Ice

Viscount Melville Sound streams down M’Clintock Channel, and pressing against

King William Island, piles up in Victoria Strait. The narrow island-studded

exist from Victoria Strait on the south serves not only to protect Queen Maud

Gulf from the continual invasion of this powerful northern ice, but prevents

Victoria Strait from ever clearing. As M’Clintock wrote in his [ ?] journal with

reference to the fate of Franklin whose ships were crushed in the powerful

ice of this strait: “How different the results might , and probably would ,

have been had he known of the e x istence of a ship-channel, sheltered by King

William Island, from this tremendous polar pack!”

        Over 50 years later, in 1903, profiting by this hard-won knowledge,

Amundsen began the first successful negotiation of the Northwest Passage by

a single vessel. In his 47-ton ship, the Gjoa , this Norwegian explorer enter–

ing Franklin Strait via Peel Sound from the north, rounded King William Island

to the east and south, and after two winters at Gjoa Haven (Peterson Bay), on

the southeastern corner of that island, succeeded in following the northern

continental margin westward to emerge in Bering Strait in 1906.

        The first commercial use of the eastern portion of this passage was made

in 1928 when the Hudson’s Bay Company schooner, Fort James , brought supplies

via Lancaster and Peel sounds to the trading post at Gjoa Haven. The western

portion of the route, between the Mackenzie Delta and Queen Maud Gulf, has

been more extensively used than any other waterway in the region, especially

by the trading schooners of the Hudson’s Bay Company. The major base for

these late summer operations is Port Brabant (Tuktuk), which serves as the

main transshipment point between the Mackenzie River and the trading posts

farther east. Aside from the ice conditions which restrict the use of the

039      |      Vol_VII-0815                                                                                                                  
EA-Oc. Weaver: Arctic Ice

entire Lancaster Sound--Franklin Strait--Queen Maud Gulf route to no more

than six to eight weeks of the year, the major dr a wback of this passageway is

the fact that, especially in the eastern Queen Maud Gulf-Simpson Strait sector,

the waters are so shallow that only very small ships can be used.

        One major variation to the northwest Passage just discussed has been to

turn southward from Lancaster Sound into Prince Regent Inlet, and to gain

access to Franklin and Sir James Ross straits via Bellot Strait. Both Parry

and Ross failed in their attempts to find this route via Prince Regent Inlet

in the 1820’s, and M’Clintock was unsuc c essful in using Bellot Strait because

of a narrow but persistent band of ice off its western entrance. The first

commercial importance of this variant route came in 1937 when the Hudson’s

Bay Company icebreaker, Nascopie Nascopie , opened the trading post of Fort Ross at

the eastern entrance of Bellot Strait, and here met and exchanged freight with

the small Hudson’s Bay Company schooner Aklavik which had proceeded to this

point from Mackenzie Bay around King William Island. Thus Fort Ross became

a meeting point for the local trade of the eastern and western Arctic.

        The Bellot Strait route was also taken by the Royal Canadian Mounted

Police Schooner, St. Roch , on her historic trip of 1940-42 when she became

the first ship to negotiate the entire Northwest Passage from west to east.

As a pertinent example of the uncertainties of the ice along this route, it

is interesting to point out that although the St. Roch managed under difficulty

to escape through Prince Regent Inlet in the early days of September, 1942, the

Nascopie , coming from Lancaster Sound was unable to make her annual visit to

Fort Ross a few days later.

040      |      Vol_VII-0816                                                                                                                  
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        A second variant to this major route wh i ch has been followed in recent

years by the Hudson’s Bay Company and Royal Canadian Mounted Police ships,

has been to use the waterway inside Bylot Island (Pond Inlet, Eclipse Sound,

and navy Board Inlet), rather than the direct eastern entrance of Lancaster

Sound. This alternate passage has had the advantage of permitting communica–

tion with the trading post at Pond Inlet.

        The second major route of possible Northwest Passage which has long

been the subject to exploration and speculation, is the more direct line of

travel down Lancaster Sound and Barrow Strait, into Viscount Melville Sound

and beyond. The possibilities of this route were first explored as early

as 1819 by Edward Parry, who, wintering on the south shore of Melville Island,

became the first navigator in the Northern Hemisphere to cross the 110th

meridian. On this trip Parry was the first to make contact with the formid–

able floes of Arctic Sea ice which enter M’Clure Strait and appear in such

massive volume in Viscount Melville Sound and M’Clintock Channel. These heavy

floes blocked his fu r ther progress westward in the next season, and the failure

of his expedition on this route was followed by a century or more of doubt as

to its feasibility.

        It was not until 1944 when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Schooner,

St. Roch , finally broke through the ice of Viscount Melville Sound, that a

Northwest Passage northward of Victoria Island was accomplished. Entering

the archipelago from the east via Lancaster Sound and Barrow Strait, the

St. Roch followed the northern margin of Viscount Melville Sound to western

Melville Island, and then turning south maneuvered the heavy pack to enter

041      |      Vol_VII-0817                                                                                                                  
EA-Oc. Weaver: Arctic Ice

and pass through Prince of Wales Strait, 8 and proceed through Amundsen Gulf,

Mackenzie Bay, and the coastal waters of Alaska. Making this trip in 86 days,

the sturdy St. Roch became the first ship in more than t h ree and a half cen–

turies of effort to navigate a northwest Passage in a single season.

8. This was the first accomplishment of a north-south passage through the ice

of eastern M’Clure Strait and western Viscount Melville Sound. The long-standing

[ ?] respect for the ice accumulation of this district has good foundation is fact,

but as the following statement from the recently published United States Navy

Sailing Directions for northern Canada indicate, the problems of navigation

here are perhaps fully soluable with increased knowledge and understanding:

“Viscount Melville Sound, because of the prevalent easterly current

through McClure Strait, is usually so full of ice that it cannot be looked upon

as a body of water that is navigable in any desired direction. This current

runs eastward along the northern side of Viscount Melville Sound, and in the

middle and southern parts of the sound there is probably a clockwise eddy, which

tends to hold the ice within this area. Larsen is, however, of the opinion that

there is probably never a season when a vessel under steam cannot get through

Viscount Melville Sound along its northern side as far as Winter Harbor.

Stefansson and Larsen have observed that on occasions when McClure Strait is

jammed with ice from shore to shore by westerly winds, which are probably fre–

quent, Viscount Melville Sound, because of its greater width, will allow room

for sufficient slackening of this ice jam to afford good sailing in its western

part whenever during the navigation season there is a westerly wind. So if a

vessel succeeds in making Winter Harbor she can await a westerly wind and be

reasonably sure to get across western Viscount Melville Sound southward to

Prince of Wales Strait rhough scattered ice. Larsen’s experience indicates

that the revolving motion of the ice in the middle of Viscount Melville Sound

makes it advisable to make this crossing as far west as possible, usually between

Cape Providence, Melville Island, and Russell Point, Banks Island. The St. Roch

in 1944 required three days to work across the sound from Winter Harbor to Peel

Point because of heavy fog and much revolving ice, in which they got entangled

through being too far east, so they entered Collinson Inlet, mistaking it at

first for Prince of Wales Strait. Larsen states, however, that the summer of

1944 was undoubtedly a season of unusually heavy ice.

“Observations of the ice conditions is McClure Strait made in 1908 by

Bernier, who reached Cape Hay, indicated that is that year the strait could

have been navigated across from the middle of August to the end of September. Mem–

bers of Stefansson’s expedition in the summer of 1916 observed from the southern

end of Melville Island near Cape Providence that McClure Strait was fairly open.

Stefansson was of the opinion that the Polar Bear , one of the expedition’s

vessels, would have had no trouble in crossing from Prince of Wales Strait to

Melville Island, had the attempt been made as planned.” Sailing Directions for

Northern Canada , Hydrographic Office Publication No. 77 , Washington, 1946,

pp. 480-481.

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EA-Oc. Weaver: Arctic Ice

        Exciting though this accomplishment was, one must not forget the cau–

tionary statement of Captain Larsen upon his arrival in Vancouver, a statement

which applies not only to the route which he had just negotiated, but to any

other in this region: “We were lucky . . . . No one can predict ice or naviga–

tion conditions in the Arctic. What we accomplished this year might be re–

peated the next, or it might be many years. Much would depend upon the type

of vessel used, and the ice conditions of that particular year. Our voyage

showed that the Northwest Passage can be traversed in a single year, but does

not prove that this could be accomplished every year.” 9

        An especially pertinent observation of Captain Larsen has to do with his

conviction that on the average the most difficult and dangerous port o ion of

any Northwest Passage route is that segment along the Alaskan coast line

between Herschel Island and Point Barrow. This is particularly significant

with regard to speculation about future possibilities of navigation in the

North American North, inasmuch as this admittedly dangerous link in the chain

has actually been successfully negotiated oftener than any other seaway between

Point Barrow and Lancaster Sound.

        A much discussed possible variant from the route followed by the St. Roch

on her 1944 voyage, is the one to the westward through M’Clure Strait and

along the western shore of Banks Island to Mackenzie Bay. The two outstanding

hazards of such a route are the heavy ice so characteristically found in

M’Clure Strait, and the ever-present threat of the arctic pack and drift ice,

which even in the most favorable seasons, lies close to the Banks Island shore,

9. Robinson, J. Lewis, “Conquest of the Northwest Passage by R.C.M.P. Schooner

St Roch”, Canadian Geographical Journal , February, 1945, p. 23.

043      |      Vol_VII-0819                                                                                                                  
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and may with unfavorable winds come in against this coast with crushing force

at any time.

        During the search for Sir John Franklin, M’Clure approaching from Mackenzie

Bay to the west, succeeded in rounding the western side of Banks Island before

being locked against the coast at Mercy Bay on the strait which now hears his

name, a position from which he was unable to extricate his ship. This voyage

lent credence to the belief of Bernier, who on the basis of his trip westward

into M’Clure Strait in 1908 concluded that this was the most logical passage

with which the eastern Arctic might communicate with Mackenzie Bay. Because

he did not have orders to proceed westward of M’Clure Strait, Bernier did not

attempt to navigate a Northwest Passage along this route, but he claimed that

if such had been the purpose of his voyage it would have been possible to do

so in the fall of that year.

        This deep-sea route would have obvious advantages over the shallow and

circuitous passageways of the continental margin, but it is only fair to point

out that on attempting such a route two years later, Bernier found the Arctic

Sea entrance to M’Clure Strait barred by impenetrable ice. Furthermore,

Stefansson’s ships the North Star and Polar Bear attempted to round the shores

of western Banks Island from the south in August and September of 1915, after

the manner of M’Clure. The North Star was unable to get northward of a position

20 miles north of Norway Island in August and the Polar Bear was halted con–

siderably farther to the south by solid pack at Cape Kellett in early September.

The possibility should probably be conceded that in occasional seasons, at

least, this route could be followed, and that perhaps with powerful icebreaker

assistance, it could be navigated in many seasons, but the fact that [ ?] has

never yet been accomplished leaves the matter one of speculation.

044      |      Vol_VII-0820                                                                                                                  
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        There is one additional waterway, long discussed as a potential link

in a Northwest Passage, which has not yet been mentioned. That is the narrow

defile of Fury and Hecla Strait which connects Foxe Basin and the Gulf of

Boothia. Both the Gulf of Boothia and Foxe Basin are catchment areas for

heavy arctic ice, and navigation in them is known to be uncertain and

hazardous. Many navigators, from the indefatigible Parry, in 1821, to

Captain Robert A. Bartlett over one hundred years later, have followed the

comparatively open waters of western Foxe Basin in late August and early Septem–

ber northward to the eastern entrance of Fury and Hecla Strait, but none has

succeeded in passing through this narrow waterway to the Gulf of Boothia.

Captain Bernier failed in his attempt from the north via Prince Regent Inlet,

and though the statement still persists in much of the literature that Fury

and Hecla Strait may be a practical route of entry to, or exit from, the

archipelago region, it has yet to serve this function.

        It seems fair to remark, in conclusion that the Northwest Passages around

North America will not soon attain the stature of a commercial shipping route

comparable to that being developed by the Russians in the arctic seas off

Siberia. In the North American area the present resources for trade are too

limited, and the risks and undependability too great. The new age of air

transportation makes this seem doubly certain.

       

The Arctic Seas of Alaska

        The Alaskan waters to the north and east of Bering Strait are dominated

throughout most of the year by the movements of the never distant and always

powerful polar pack and the marginally flanking heavy drift ice of the Arctic Sea.

045      |      Vol_VII-0821                                                                                                                  
EA-Oc. Weaver: Arctic Ice

Of considerable importance, though overshadowed in significance by the arctic

pack and drift ice, is the heavy fast ice which for 10 or more months of the

year covers the bays and fringes the shores of northern Alaska.

        The Bering Sea, included as it is between two massive land areas with

severe continental climates, is filled each year by a tremendous volue of

ice of primarily local formation. Very little of the Arctic Sea ice formed

in the polar basin finds its way south of the Arctic Circle, and only oc–

casionally do small floes pass through Bering Strait to mix with the pack

of the Bering Sea. The seaward margins of the belts of fast ice which build

out from the coasts surrounding the Bering Sea, are continually broken off

by the tempestuous winds of this region to join the vast quantities of ice

growing in the open waters of the sea itself, in the formation of a formidable

southward-swelling area of pack.

        At no time is Bering Sea covered by one solid sheet of ice, and save for

the inner coastal margins, is characterized by a drifting mass of detached

fields, floes, and cakes which are constantly breaking up, piling and tel–

escoping in response to the variable forces of wind and current. As this

Bering Sea pack is forming in the early winter the shifting fields are more

open and scattered than in the late winter and spring when the congestion

reaches its maximum intensity. The ice is commonly differentiated into two

types: ( 1 ) the heavily rafted masses created by the gales of fall and early

winter; and ( 2 ) the more level and less hummocked ice formed during the late

winter and early spring in the interstices of open water provided by the

piling up of the older ice.

046      |      Vol_VII-0822                                                                                                                  
EA-Oc. Weaver: Arctic Ice

        The most ice-free period in Alaska waters generally occurs during

late August and e a rly September. At this time, Bering Sea and Strait should

be clear, and the coast will be free of fast ice northward to Point Barrow,

and mostly so eastward to Herschel Island. The heavy ice of the Arctic Sea,

which has retreated to its most northerly position of the year, will never

be far off the coast between Point Barrow and Herschel Island, and may

come grinding in upon the projecting points of this shore line at any time.

Westward of Point Barrow the pack seldom lies more than a few miles offshore

southeastward to Ice Cape, where its margin characteristically lies against

Blossom Shoals, 6 to 8 miles from the coast. Beyond this point the southern

margin of the pack will generally follow in a west-southwesterly direction

to a longitudinal position somewhere between 165° and 168° W., there to

bend northwestward to a position north of Herald Island. It will then prob–

ably trend southwest, east of Wrangel Island, to about latitude 70° N., where

it turns gradually southeastward to approach the Siberian coast somewhere

between Cape Schmidt (North Cape) and Cape Dezhnev.

        In most seasons it should be possible for ships to reach the vicinity

of Point Barrow sometime during the latter half of July, and fr o m this time

until the early days of September, essentially not much more than the month

of August, occurs the brief and ca rp pr icious navigation season along the

Alaskan coastal waters eastward to Mackenzie Bay. Ships have on occasion

managed to pass Point Barrow eastward bound as early as late June, but surely

such rare attainments should not be translated into expectations of gen–

erally probable future accomplishment. The heavy drifting ice of the arctic

basin, in its generally clockwise swirl, tends to revolve in against the

047      |      Vol_VII-0823                                                                                                                  
EA-Oc. Weaver: Arctic Ice

exposed northeastern Alaskan shore line, and the existence of an open

coastal waterway in this sector, even in the optimum weeks, is strongly

dependent upon favorable winds. Moderate winds from easterly or southerly

directions hold the pack off the coast, while northerly and westerly winds

will bring the powerful floes hard up against the shore, effectively seal–

ing any navigable waterway.

        Ships unprepared to encounter ice should not venture eastward around

Point Barrow, for even when the main body of the Arctic Sea ice has receded

from the coast, there are drifting marginal floes and bands of fast ice in

the inshore waters. It is also inadvisable for any ship to attempt this

passes if she is not equipped to spend at least one winter in the Arctic.

Many ships have been imprisoned or crushed when suddenly shifting winds have

brought the never distant ice margin in against the coast. Small vessels

have the advantage of being able to escape destruction in the shallow in–

shore waters as the powerful polar ice grounds itself on the outer shoals.

The Russians have demonstrated that strong icebreakers cannot penetrate the

polar basin ice, and even the large ship caught in its grip is certain to

be detained, if not lost.

        After the first week in September the winds along the northern coast

of Alaska blow with increasing frequency from northerly sectors, and in

direct response the heavy Arctic Sea ice closes in eastward of Point Barrow,

By mid-September young ice begins to appear along the margins of the drift–

ing ice westward of Point Barrow to Icy Cape, and a week later will be

forming rapidly along the shore and in such open water as may exist between

the coast and the pack. It is generally conceded that ships from Mackenzie

048      |      Vol_VII-0824                                                                                                                  
EA-Oc. Weaver: Arctic Ice

Bay should be west of Point Barrow by the 10th of September, and it would

be the exceptionally favorable season when a vessel could remain with safety

in the Point Barrow area itself until the middle of this month or later.

        The current flowing northward from Bering Strait normally keeps the

Alaskan coast ice-free, at least as far north as Cape Lisburne, throughout

September, but the southern margin of the mobile arctic ice in the Chukchi

Sea, unpredictably affected by winds, may be expected to begin growing south–

ward before the end of the month. Young ice will appear in the vicinity of

Herald Shoal and along the margins of the central pack and drift ice itself.

And before the first of October the drift ice, which earlier has held the

Siberian shore, may begin to slip around Cape Dezhnev into the western side

of Bering Strait.

        Ice formation proceeds rapidly in early October, and ships are generally

cautioned that it is unsafe to remain north of Bering Strait after the 10th.

Prevailing northeast and north winds shatter the southern margin of the central

pack and drift ice mass and pile large accumulations of floes against the

Siberian shore, and ships navigating this region are normally compelled to

keep to the Cape Lisburne-Point Hope side of the southern Chukchi Sea in

reaching Bering Strait.

        Between Point Barrow and Icy Cape the drift ice will recede from the

coast at brief intervals, and the young ice which forms quickly in the inter–

vening water is piled up in heavy masses along the shore by its return. South–

ward from Icy Cape, fast ice fringes the coast line in a heavy band and closes

Kotzebue Sound and Bering Strait during middle and late October. Navigation

is considered dangerous in Norton Sound by the third week is October, and while

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heavily built vessels may reach the roadstead at Nome as late as early

November, St. Michael Bay is generally inaccessible by October 15. Naviga–

tion on the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers closes in this month.

        During November fast ice increases southward to close the ports of

inner Kuskokwim and Bristol bays, and the congregating floes of the Bering

Sea pack will have closed southward around St. Lawrence Island and the

offing of Norton Sound by the end of the month. December is characterized

by an enormously increasing accumulation of drifting floes which, by the

last week of this month or early in January, swell southward to attain a

position of maximum extent from which they do not retreat until the latter

part of April. The irregular southern limit of the Bering Sea pack around

the turn of the year lies at about the latitude of 56°. Its margin, marked

by indentations, projecting tongues, and outlying floes and stringers, char–

acteristically extends from southern Bristol Bay to a position about 35

miles south of the Pribilof Islands, and thence northwestward to the vicinity

of Cape Olyutorski on the Siberian coast.

        The truly massive heavy central core of the Bering Sea pack does not

reach much farther south than St. Matthew Island, and navigation by heavily

built vessels is probably possible northward to 60° throughout the winter.

The as yet unsubstantiated claim is made by some experienced observers that

it would be possible for powerful icebreakers to force their way northward to

points off Nome and St. Michael, and to unload supplies across the shore ice

even in the heaviest months. The most powerful ice of the Bering Sea is found

in the Gulf of Anadyr, the offing of Cape Navain, and to the north of St.

Lawrence Island.

050      |      Vol_VII-0826                                                                                                                  
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        Southward of St. Matthew Island the pack characteristically becomes

increasingly scattered and bro ek ke n. In some particularly light ice years

the pack may not reach the Pribilof Islands at all, and seldom, even in

severe winters, will it be tightly massed around them. Under the Influence

of persistent northerly winds, detached floes may in some seasons make a

brief appearance as far southward as Isanotski Strait, the northern offing

of Unimak Pass and Akutan Pass and Unalaska Bay in the eastern Aleutians.

It is occasionally cold enough in January and February for ice to form

locally in some of the sheltered coves and bayds of the Aleutian Islands,

but never in amounts sufficient to interrupt navigation.

        The harbors of the southeastern side of the Alaska Peni n sula are open

to navigation throughout the year. From December to April the upper reaches

of Cook Inlet are likely to be more or less obstructed by floating ice formed

over the flats and shallow inner waters. Except along the western side of

this inlet, where large floes are sometimes carried as far as Augustine

Island, briefly to close Iliamna Bay, this ice does not generally interfere

with navigation south of Anchor Point, and full-powered vessels can probably

reach the head of the inlet throughout the winter. To the east and south some

winter ice usually forms in the upper reaches of Prince William Sou n d, and in

Glacier Bay above Willoughby Island.

        The massiveness of the Bering Sea pack continues to increase until well

into April, and the freezing of new ice throughout the basin usually occurs,

at least intermittently, until the second week in May. However, the increas–

ingly persistent southerly winds of late April generally start to drive the

southern margin of the pack northward, and the waters around the Pribilof

Islands will probably have been cleared by the first of May.

051      |      Vol_VII-0827                                                                                                                  
EA-Oc. Weaver: Arctic Ice

        As the northward recession of the ice begins, the margins of Bering Sea

clear more rapidly than the center. Under the influence of local winds,

northerly setting currents, and opening river mouths, the ice of the coastal

waters breaks up to provide shore leads extending well to the northward of

the position held by the southern margin of the central pack. Whether the

offing of the Alaskan or Siberian shore opens the earlier is dependent upon

the prevailing spring winds of a particular season, although observations

seem to indicate that in more than half of the years the western side of the

basin becomes accessible sooner than the eastern. After the middle of May,

at which time the southern margin of the pack will probably have retreated

to the vicinity of St. Matthew Island, the heavy winter ice will finally

clear from Bristol and Kuskokwim bays, and, though Norton Sound will still

be closed, the effects of the advancing spring break-up are in evidence,

especially off the distributaries of the Yukon River.

        In most years the continuing shrinkage of the Bering Sea pack will have

carried the retreat of its southern margin northward to St. Lawrence Island

by the first of June. During the early weeks of this month, drift ice,

escaping from the especially heavy concentrations to the north and east of

St. Lawrence Island, will be encountered across the approaches to Norton Sound

and southeastward to Nunivak Island. As the disintegration of the pack north

of St. Lawrence Island progresses during June, open water will appear first

to the westward of that island, and northward from Cape Chaplina to the

Diomede Islands on the western side of Bering Strait. The heaviest and most

persistent ice floes hold their position between St. Lawrence and King islands

well into July.

052      |      Vol_VII-0828                                                                                                                  
EA-Oc. Weaver: Arctic Ice

        Heavily built vessels are accustomed to reach the roadstead at Home by

the first week is June, but ordinary navigation is generally not safe in

Norton Sound earlier than the 15th, and in some years has been delayed as

long as the first week in July. Over a period of 44 years the earliest ship

to reach St. Michael arrived on the 25th day of May, and the most delayed

arrived on the 3rd of July. This port becomes accessible on the average

around the middle of June. The ice of Norton Sound is heaviest along its

northern shores, and the final disappearance of drifting ice is not to be

expected here before the last days of June or the first of July.

        Port Clarence is commonly accessible a week or two later than Nome,

and the coastal approaches to Bering Strait are generally navigable be fore the

end of June. By the first of July open passage through Bering Strait is

to be expected, although rough and hummocky ice will probably bar further

progress northward at the Arctic Circle. A branch of the current flowing

northward through Bering Strait follows the Alaskan coast, sets eastward

into Kotzebue Sound, and then northward to Point Hope and Cape Lisburne.

The effect of this current, combined with the increasing warmth of the ad–

vancing season, is to disrupt the connection which, since November, has

existed between the fast ice and the offshore drift ice. This action pro–

vides a shore lead which has permitted whalers to pass northeastward around

Cape Prince of Wales to Cape Sepenburg, and then northward to a rendezvous

at Point Hope by the end of the first week in July. The ice of Kotzebue

Sound, which during, its break-up piles especially large quantities of ice

along the coast between Cape Blossom and Point Hope, does not finally dis–

integrate until mid-July or even later.

053      |      Vol_VII-0829                                                                                                                  
EA-Oc. Weaver: Arctic Ice

        Northeastward from Cape Lisburne, and especially beyond Icy Cape,

the periodic onshore and offshore movements of the peerful arctic ice,

which serve to destroy the already weakened fast ice belt, makes navigation

extremely hazardous, if not impossible, to Point Barrow before the third

week in July. Even as mid-September is to be regarded as the time of the

onset of winter conditions in this section, mid-July typically represents

the moment of reopening.

        Unlike the coastal waters of eastern North America, icebergs do not

seriously menace navigation along the western margin of the continent.

There are no iceberg-producing tidewater glacier along the Arctic Sea

or Bering Sea coasts of Alaska, and while moderate quantities of glacial

ice are set adrift in Huka Bay, Prince William Sound, and Icy, Uakutat, and

Lituya bays along the south coast of Alaska, the pieces are comparatively

small, and do not generally affect shipping because their distribution is

restricted almost entirely to the inner waters of their formation.

        The only place in the North Pacific basin where glacial ice occurs

in any quantity along an imp o rtant shipping route is in the Inland Passage

of southeastern Alaska. Although these pieces of ice are extremely small

when compared to the gigantic bergs which infest the northwestern North

Atlantic, they are of sufficient size and quantity to be dangerous to

vessels in these narrow waterways. Bergs may be encountered throughout

the year in the eastern part of Frederick Sound, in Stephens Passage

(between Point Hugh and the western end of Douglas Island), in Taku Inlet,

Icy Strait, Cross Sound (between The Sisters and Cape Spencer), and in

Glacier Bay.

       

John C. Weaver