The discovery of William Baffin - the sea of the Arctic basin, washing the west coast of Greenland

An interesting and important discovery was made in the 17th century by the marine expedition of William Baffin. The sea, discovered by researchers, was officially named after the conqueror of the northern waters. William Baffin and Robert Bailot carefully described their findings. Somewhat later, W. Baffin undertook four more expeditions to the open reservoir. Where is the sea of Baffin and what it is, now let's try to figure it out.

A bit of history

The first mention of the harsh and mysterious sea appeared in the 16th century. They left the researcher from Britain D. Davis in 1585. But the name of the reservoir was awarded in 1616 after the expedition of another British navigator Baffin. The sea, as already mentioned, bears this name because he not only visited these latitudes, but conducted a whole scientific investigation, became the discoverer of the island of Baffin Island, and proved that the Northwest Passage through the Hudson Bay, which the John Davis expedition was looking for, does not exist.

In 1818, the development of the north-western path was continued by another Englishman - John Ross. He walked along the path of Baffin. The sea, the island and the west coast of Greenland during the new expedition were described again. In addition, adjustments were made to geographical maps.

Interesting geography

The impassable sea of Baffin is still poorly understood. Its shores are considered sparsely populated, since the population density here is the lowest on the planet. In order to understand why this is so, one must answer a simple question: why is Baffin's severe sea, to which ocean does this pond belong?

We are talking about the outskirts of the sea in the North Atlantic Ocean. Such water bodies are also called internal seas. The boundaries of the sea are determined by the island of Baffin Island, the southwestern coast of Greenland and the eastern shore of the Arctic archipelago.

The inner reservoir, described by the Baffin expedition, is a sea with an area of 630,000 km2. Its average depth is almost 860 m. But the maximum depth is more than 2400 m. The approximate extent along the coasts from north to south is about 1100 km.

The banks that wash the sea of Baffin, are completely cut up by mountains, bays and fjords. In addition, they are close to the glaciers.

Straits and currents

With the Atlantic Ocean, the Baffin Sea is connected by the Davis Strait and the Labrador Sea. The Nars Strait leads to the Arctic Ocean . In the sea there are two notable currents: Canadian and Greenland.

Because of the Greenland-Canadian underwater elevation (threshold) in the Baffin Sea, warm water masses from the Atlantic do not enter. This is the main reason that one of the seas of the Atlantic Ocean is so cold and completely covered with ice in winter.

Climate and hydrology

The sea of Baffin is located in the Arctic climate zone. Here, storms and low temperature indices are often observed. So, in winter there may be 20-28 ° C, and in the summer only 7 ° C. Because of this, the water temperature in the winter is only -1 ° C, in the summer not higher than +5 ° C.

The water salinity in the Baffin Sea is 30-32 ppm, but in the deep layers it is slightly higher and is more than 34 ppm.

In especially severe winters the sea surface freezes completely, in usual - by 80%. In summer, ice blocks and flat floes often swim in the waters.

In the sea, there are surprisingly high tides. Their minimum height is 4 meters, maximum is 9 meters. Winds are predominantly north-western.

The region is seismically active. Registration was conducted since 1933, the maximum earthquake was 6 points. The last, above 5 points, happened in 2010.

Vegetation and fauna

The flora of the Baffin Sea is represented by brown and red algae that accumulate off the coast.

The fauna is much richer. Benthic animals such as cephalopods and folding mollusks, echinoderms lobsters, coelenterates (jellyfishes) and several species of crustaceans live there: shrimps, crabs and crustaceans. A pair of species of sea worms was discovered .

Despite the cold waters, about 60 different fish species can be found in the sea. This is a variety of herrings, cod, ie navaga, saika and others. There are smelt, haddock, flounder, capelin and many more representatives. However, the industrial catch is hampered by harsh conditions and ice. Here, only small fishing vessels can be found occasionally.

Recorded frequent cases of entry into the sea Baffin ice shark. This is a large cartilaginous fish. Its length can reach six meters, but for a man of danger this species does not represent.

Since human access to the resources of the animal world of the Baffin Sea is limited, there is a large number of cetaceans of beluga whales and walruses.

The shores are inhabited by birds. These are numerous bird markets, consisting of cormorants, gulls, terns, guillemots, ducks and geese.

To preserve natural resources, the coast and the water are protected by the state. The shooting of large mammals, such as polar bears, is limited. In addition, the Baffin Island National Park conducts conservation activities throughout the country.