The total amount of fractures varied between 80 and 266. The fractures 
were divided into seven groups according to their width. Their percentages are 
also given in Tab.3. On all flights over 50% of the fractures were between 20 
and 200 m in width. About 20% of the fractures were between 200 and 400 m and 
about 9% between 400 and 600 m. The percentages of the different fracture groups 
seem to be fairly constant for the six flight missions. The relation between the 
percentage of the occurrence frequency of fractures and the fracture width is 
logarithmic as shown in Fig. 6. 
CONCLUSION 
The North Water consists of three seperate polynyas -the Smith Sound 
Polynya, the Lady Ann Strait Polynya and the Parry Channel Polynya in Lancaster 
Sound or Barrow Strait, depending on the location of the fast-ice boundary. The 
Smith Sound Polynya accounts for the lose pack ice in the northern Baffin Bay. 
The "warm water phenomenon", measured at Cape Alexander, around Wolstenholm Isl. 
and in Lady Ann Strait may be another driving force,beside strong winds and the 
mechanical stability of the fast-ice boundary, for the sea ice anomaly of the 
North Water. 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 
The financial support of the work was provided by Petro Canada LDT. 
The author is much indebted to Professor Dr. D. Steiner and to Dr. A. Ohmura 
for scientific discussions and valuable advice during the preparation of the 
manuscript.and to K. Schroff for the help in the preparation of the field 
work. A generous logistic support was provided by Polar Continental Shelf Pro- 
ject of Dept. of Energy, Mines and Resources of Canada through its director 
Dr. G.D. Hobson. 
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