Baffin Sea

Baffin Bay

Baffin Sea, Baffin Bay is a sea of the Arctic Ocean, bordering the Labrador Sea of the Atlantic Ocean and lapping the west coast of Greenland. The sea is 1,130 kilometers long from north to south. Navigation is impossible for most of the year due to the large number of icebergs.

General Information

The Baffin Sea is part of the Arctic Ocean, bounded by the islands of Baffin Land to the west, Greenland to the east, and Ellesmere to the north. It is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by the Davis Strait and to the Arctic Ocean by a group of straits called the Nares Strait. Also, the Baffin Sea is the northwestern extension of the Atlantic Ocean and the Labrador Sea.

The Baffin Sea is home to about 21,000 beluga whales, which feed on small fish and crustaceans. They are constantly at risk of being trapped in ice and face other challenges.

In 1585, English explorer John Davis became the first European to enter the waters of the Baffin Sea. William Baffin made five expeditions to the Arctic and described the Baffin Sea in 1616. During these expeditions, William Baffin proved that the Northwest Passage could not pass through Hudson Bay.