A large sea located between the Canadian Archipelago and the Labrador Sea. It is about 1000 km and 400 km. Most of Baffin Bay is deeper than 1500 m, but deep water exchange with the Labrador Sea is restricted by a sill in Davis Strait with a depth of 670 m. A mobile ice cover forms during winter and moves southward under the prevailing winds. Icebergs calved from glaicers in southern and western Greenland drift across the bay and southward in the Baffin Current to southern latitudes. A significant oceanographic feature of Baffin Bay is the North Water, a partially open water area in the northern part where complete ice cover would be expected under prevailing climatological conditions.

The principal currents are a relatively warm northwards flowing current along the Greenland coast, and the cold southwards flowing Baffin Current. This cyclonic circulation is driven by surface inflows of low salinity Arctic water through the Canadian Archipelago in the north and by means of the West Greenland Current in the south. Current meter data from northern Baffin Bay show strong surface Arctic outflows to a depth of about 500 m, directed to the south and generally following the bathymetry. There is a strong annual cycle in the mean currents, with the currents stronger in summer and weaker in winter. This variability is probably driven by seasonal changes in buoyancy forcing, which enhances the coastal currents on the wide shelves. Tidal currents up to 0. 4 m s^{-1>/sup> have been observed on the shelves and along the shelf slopes, and consist mainly of semidiurnal components, with a considerable diurnal component in some areas.}

The surface layer, defined as the layer extending to the maximum depth influenced by wind stress, is a few tens of meters thick. The surface layer water has a density of 1026 kg/m³ or less, with the deeper water weighing in at 1027 kg/m sup>3. Their salinities are 32. 5 and 34. 0, respectively. In the eastern part of the bay there is a layer between about 200 and 800 m characterized by relatively warm and saline water. This is considered the result of inflow of Atlantic water through the Davis Strait. Substantial tidal currents have been measured in the eastern part of the bay, e.g. up to about 20 cm/s at locations where the water depth is 500 m.