North Water
Between May and July (sometimes April), a significant portion of navigable open water (polynya) forms at the extreme north of the bay, presumably due to the relatively warm Greenland Current. With an area of about 80,000 km2 (31,000 sq mi) in summer, it is the largest polynya of the Canadian Arctic and covers the Smith Sound between the Ellesmere Island and Greenland. This polynya has a stable position and existed for at least 9,000 years. It was first described in 1616 by William Baffin and was named North Water by whalers of the 18–19th centuries.
Read more about this topic: Baffin Bay
Famous quotes containing the words north and/or water:
“Why does man freeze to death trying to reach the North Pole? Why does man drive himself to suffer the steam and heat of the Amazon? Why does he stagger his mind with the mathematics of the sky? Once the question mark has arisen in the human brain the answer must be found, if it takes a hundred years. A thousand years.”
—Walter Reisch (1903–1963)
“—the main jet
Struggling aloft unti it seems at rest
In the act of rising, until
The very wish of water is reversed,”
—Richard Wilbur (b. 1921)