SEA ICE CLASSIFICATION 
At the Resolute sea ice station it was found that different ice types 
are associated with distinguishable surface temperature levels. For five ice 
types, surface temperature intervals are given for different air temperatures. 
First year and old ice are called white ice. For verification, aerial photographs 
from the flight missions were used.. Because of the limited spatial resolution 
of the thermal measurements, areas smaller than 100 m in diameter were classified 
according to the mean temperature over that area. As a result, ice types smaller 
than 100 m in diameter were not Classified precisely. Young ice, nilas and open 
water are of primary interest for the study of the ice anomaly in the North Water. 
The percentage of the above mentioned ice types, measured along the profiles on 
six remote sensing flights (Fig.1), are listed in table 2. According to the 
amount of young ice along these profiles, three "activity" categories were dis- 
dinguished: 
Type I: Very high percentage of young ice 
Cape Alexander,P.16-17; Carey Islànds,P.13-14. 
Type II: High percentage of young ice 
Wolstenholm Is1.,P.9-10; northern Baffin Bay/Smith S.,P.14-15. 
Type III: Low percentage of young ice 
Barrow Str. and Lancaster S.,P.4-7; Baffin Bay,P.7-9. 
A dominace of open water is found along the Greenland coast in general 
and near Cape Alexander in particular. A more detailed study showed that the 
amount of open water between Cape Alexander and Littleton Isl. (Fig.5) as well as 
around Carey Isl. is far greater than the amount recorded at the fast ice boun- 
dary in northern Smith Sound. 
     
    
  
     
   
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
Table 1: Surface temperature inter- Figure 5: Geographical map of the west- 
vals of five ice types for different Greenland coast in the vi- 
ain temperatures T, T,17-10/-15"C; cinity of Cape Alexander 
0 
T p= 15/725; Ta 00/-30 C , [/=to) 
KANE BASIN 
ICE TYPE ji ou ak uia D 
BLACK NILAS 0- 5 -2/-5 -2/-5 =2/=5 Littleton C2 
LIGHT NILAS 5-10 -5/-7 -5/-8 -5/-9 ut 
GREY ICE 10-15 -7/-10 -8/-12 -9/-14 UN 
GREY-WHITE ICE |15-30 -10/-13 -12/-14 -14/-18 Hartstene 
WHITE ICE »30 X -13 « -14 < -18 SMITH =. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
.SOUND 
78915 N Mc CORMICK 
BAY 
C. Alexander 
10 km 
L———— 
739 w 72% 
[ Smith Sound | C. Alexander | Baffin Bay | Lady Ann str. | 
| Baffin Bay | Wolstemholm 1| Carey I. 
barrou Str. | Lancaster S. 
  
| Area