Observations of sea ice drift obtained with satellite‐tracked ice beacons in March–April of 1988 and 1989 have been used to examine the response of sea ice drift to wind forcing over the northern Newfoundland continental shelf. The short‐term (5–20 days) response of sea ice drift ranges from 2.6 to 5.4% of the local wind over much of the inner continental shelf, which is comparable to that in the Bering Sea and the Antarctic but larger than that in Arctic. Sea ice drifts to the right of the local wind, at angles ranging from 10° to 63°. The response to wind forcing is largest near the ice edge, both over the middle portions of the shelf and along the southern margins of the seasonal ice zone and during strong and steady wind of several days' duration. The large wind‐driven response of ice drift observed in this study, in comparison with the Arctic, may result from (1) reduced levels of internal ice stress associated with the generally thin ice cover and lower areal concentration of sea ice, (2) large atmospheric drag coefficients associated with the small ice floes in areas of comparatively higher ice concentration, and (3) smooth ice bottom caused by melting. In nearshore areas the ice to wind coupling is reduced owing to larger internal ice stresses experienced locally due to ice pileup.
In the summers of 1978 and 1979, an extensive physical oceanographic program was carried out in western Baffin Bay and Lancaster Sound. Data collected include satellite-tracked drifter measurements, CTD profiles and time series of subsurface currents. They indicate that the near-surface circulation of the area is dominated by the southward-flowing Baffh Current. This current, observed to extend at least as far north as Lady Ann Strait (76"N) and south to Cape Dyer (67'N), is largely confined to within 100 km of the coastline. It varies in both intensity and width with the strongest flows occurring where the current follows a cyclonic intrusion into and out of eastern Lancaster Sound; here in the core of the current the median near-surface (4 to 11 m) speeds are 75 cm/s, decreasing to 50 cm/s at 40 m depth and 25 cm/s at 250 m depth. To the east of Devon, Bylot and Baffin islands, the current is well-defined, but generally less intense with typical near-surface speeds of 30 cm/s. Important spatial variations occurred in the circulation of the area. In eastern Lancaster Sound, two distinct and alternating flow patterns were observed in the strong intrusive current in the summer of 1979. Transient large-scale meanders of the circulation were detected in the offshore portion of the Baffin Current off the east coasts of Bylot and Baffin islands. Between the eastern coastline of Bylot Island and the core of the southeasterly flowing Baffin Current, anticyclonic eddies of approximately 20 km diameter occasionally occurred.
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