The three categories, as classified in table 2 according to the percen- 
tage of young ice, will be discussed briefly. 
Type I, Cape Alexander,Point 16-17. 
The:freezing point of sea water with 33 permille salinity is - 1.990; Therefore, 
water temperatures above -1.8 C will be called "warm". Along the west coast of | 
Greenland between Littleton Isl. and Cape Alexander (Fig.5),only ice thinner 
than 30 cm was recorded. There was no fast iceexcept in McCormick Bay and in | 
Foulke Fiord. On the first remote sensing flight (Dec.2,1980), water temperatures 
between O C and -1 C were measured for a profile length of 25 km just north and 
south of Cape Alexander. On the second flight(Dec.20,1980), additional profiles 
were flown in the same area at an altitude of 100 m and 50 m to obtain infor- 
mation on vertical temperature variation. Again this "warm water phenomenon" 
was recorded for a profile length of 15 km. "Warm water" was also measured on the | 
third flight (Dec.29,1980) for a length of 250 m and on the forth flight (Jan. | 
22,1981) the warm water anomaly was observed for the last time that winter. On | 
the remaining two flights, only young ice and nilas were recorded in this area. 
An identical warm water phenomenon was measured on the first four remote sensing 
flights north and south of Wolstenholm Isl. (P.10 and before P.13). 
Type 1, Carey Isl., Point 13-14. ; 
On the first four flights, large areas were ice free, in particular in the coas- 
tal waters around the islands. The water temperature was always at 1.3%. On the 
last two flights, no open water was recorded. 
Type II, northern Baffin Bay and Smith Sound, Point 14-15, 
For the winter 1980/81, the position of the fast-ice boundary was found at a la- 
tidue of 78 go’ N. The arch curved eastwards into Kane Basin and crossed the pa- 
rallel of 79 N at a longitude of 73 20'W. South of the fast-ice boundary, open 
water pools with surface temperatures at freezing point were common on flights 
one to four and were absent on flights five and six. In the Smith Sound, strong 
northerly winds with speeds up to 60 knots at flight level were frequent. The 
percentage of ice up to a thickness less than 15 cm along this profile varied | 
between 21 and 64% (Tab.2). Depending on the meteorological conditions, the ice | 
takes two to four days to grow to a thickness of 15 cm (grey ice). In other words, | 
a total of 150 km along the profile must have been ice free once in the four days 
proceeding flight one. The corresponding figure for flight six is 75 km. These 
figures illustrate the enormous. ice movements along the north-south profile of 
the North Water. 
Type II, Baffin Bay, Point 18-19. 
Percentages of open water, nilas and grey ice are in general smaller than in the 
northern Baffin Bay/Smith Sound profile. This indicates that the intensity of the 
sea ice movement decreases from north to south. 
Type II, Lady Ann Strait, Point 21-22. 
Another fast-ice boundary is located at the entrance of Jones Sound into Baffin 
Bay. Therefore the ice cover in Lady Ann Strait remains thin throughout the 
winter. On Dec.2,1980, Lady Ann Strait had a homogeneous white ice cover (Tab.2). 
18 days later, 20% of the profile Length was young ice and south-east of Coburg 
Isl., water temperatures between O0 C and -] C were measured along a distance of 
150 m. On the third flight, only grey ice, nilas and open water were measured. 
The later occured over a distance of 3.7 km, and this was the largest ice-free 
area observed on that flight. 
774 
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