Oceanographic Features of the Canadian Archipelago

Abstract

Oceanographic data collected during the first cruise of H.M.C.S. Labrador to the Canadian Arctic in August and September 1954 permit comparisons of the vertical temperature and salinity structures in Baffin Bay, the Canadian Archipelago and the Arctic Ocean. From a comparison of the temperature–salinity characteristics of the waters in the Arctic Ocean (Beaufort Sea) with those in Baffin Bay, it is found that: (a) the surface waters of the Arctic Ocean are much less saline than those in Baffin Bay, but minimum temperatures are the same (−1.8 °C), (b) the waters of the upper 200 m. in Baffin Bay are denser than those found at corresponding depths in the Arctic Ocean, (c) below 200 m., Arctic waters are the denser, and below 500 m. they are denser than any waters found in Baffin Bay, and (d) waters found at 250 m. in the Beaufort Sea, at 500 m. in Smith Sound, and at 1250 m. in central Baffin Bay, have identical temperature and salinity characteristics (−0.3 °C., 34.4‰).In addition the data permitted limited investigations into the effect of drifting ice floes on the vertical temperature structure of the water, the origin of the "north water", long-term variations in the oceanographic conditions in Baffin Bay, and dynamic calculations of currents and volume transports of the waters through the channels leading into Baffin Bay.