Nares Strait (; ) is a

waterway A waterway is any Navigability, navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other ways. A first distinction is ...

between

Ellesmere Island Ellesmere Island (; ) is Canada's northernmost and List of Canadian islands by area, third largest island, and the List of islands by area, tenth largest in the world. It comprises an area of , slightly smaller than Great Britain, and the total ...

and

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

that connects the northern part of

Baffin Bay Baffin Bay (Inuktitut: ''Saknirutiak Imanga''; ; ; ), located between Baffin Island and the west coast of Greenland, is defined by the International Hydrographic Organization as a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is sometimes considered a s ...

in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

with the Lincoln Sea in the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...

. From south to north, the strait includes

Smith Sound Smith Sound (; ) is an Arctic sea passage between Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are ...

, Kane Basin, Kennedy Channel, Hall Basin and Robeson Channel. Nares Strait has a nearly permanent current from the north, powered by the Beaufort Gyre, making it harder to traverse for ships coming from the south. In 1964, its name was agreed by the Danish (''Stednavneudvalget'', now ''Stednavnenævnet'') and Canadian governments. The name derives from the British naval officer George Strong Nares. The strait and neighbouring waters are usually hazardous for navigation and shipping. Icebergs and pack ice are present year-round; in an extreme example during 1962–64, a by ice island drifted southward from the Lincoln Sea through the Nares and

Davis Strait The Davis Strait (Danish language, Danish: ''Davisstrædet'') is a southern arm of the Arctic Ocean that lies north of the Labrador Sea. It lies between mid-western Greenland and Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada. To the north is Baffin Bay. The ...

s to the

Labrador Sea The Labrador Sea (; ) is an arm of the North Atlantic Ocean between the Labrador Peninsula and Greenland. The sea is flanked by continental shelf, continental shelves to the southwest, northwest, and northeast. It connects to the north with Baffi ...

.. During August, however, it is usually navigable by icebreakers. Prior to 1948, only five vessels were recorded as having successfully navigated north of Kane Basin. In 2009 the ship ''Arctic Sunrise'' made the first known June transit into the Arctic Ocean.

Hans Island Hans Island (Inuktitut and , ; Inuktitut syllabics: ; , ; , ) is an island in the centre of the Kennedy Channel of Nares Strait in the high Arctic region, split between the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian territory of Nunavut a ...

, a tiny island lying within the strait, had been claimed by both

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

(on behalf of Greenland) and Canada until an agreement on June 14, 2022, settled the dispute by drawing a border across it. Other islands within the strait are Joe Island, Crozier Island, and the much larger Franklin Island. Thule People reached the Nares Strait in the early 13th century, where they hunted with and traded with Vikings.Inuit-Norse contact in the Smith Sound region/Schledermann, P. McCullough, K.M. Archeological remains of Thule Culture and Viking presence are found on Ruin Island.

References

External links

NASA: Missing 'Ice Arches' Contributed to 2007 Arctic Ice Loss

'Ocean current observations from Nares Strait to the west of Greenland: Interannual to tidal variability and forcing' (2008)
{{Authority control Straits of Greenland Straits of Qikiqtaaluk Region Bodies of water of Baffin Bay Canada–Greenland border International straits Articles containing video clips

References

Further reading

External links