Baffin Bay, arm of the North Atlantic Ocean with an area of 266,000 square miles (689,000 square km), extending southward from the Arctic for 900 miles (1,450 km) between the Greenland coast (east) and Baffin Island (west). Of about 20,000 beluga whales living in the Baffin Bay, some 15,000 are concentrated at the North Water. Other abundant animals of the region include walrus, narwhal, harp seal, bearded seal, ringed seal, bowhead whale, rorquals and polar bear. The icy habitat of Baffin Bay and Davis Strait is an ideal home for globally important populations of bowhead whales, narwhals, fish, seabirds and cold water corals. More than 17,000 people (48 per cent of Nunavut's population) live here and on small surrounding islands in nine coastal communities including Iqaluit, the territory's capital and only city. Baffin Island lies in the path of a generally northerly airflow all year round, so, like much of northeastern Canada, it has an extremely cold climate. Baffin Bay (Inuktitut: Saknirutiak Imanga: Greenlandic: Avannaata Imaa French: Baie de Baffin),[a] 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.: Art.23 It is sometimes considered a sea of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is connected to the Atlantic via Davis Strait and the Labrador Sea. The narrower Nares Strait connects Baffin Bay with the Arctic Ocean. The bay is not navigable most of the year because of the ice cover and high density of floating ice and icebergs in the open areas. However, a polynya of about 80,000 km2 (31,000 sq mi), known as the North Water, opens in summer on the north near Smith Sound. Most of the aquatic life of the bay is concentrated near that region. ExtentThe International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of Baffin Bay as follows:[6] On the North. A line from Cape Sheridan, Grant Land (82°35′N 60°45′W) to Cape Bryant, Greenland. On the East. The West Coast of Greenland. On the South. The parallel of 70° North between Greenland and Baffin Land. On the West. The Eastern limits of the North-West Passages [The East Coast of Ellesmere Island between C. Sheridan and Cape Norton Shaw (76°29′N 78°30′W), thence across to Phillips Point (Coburg Island) through this Island to Marina Peninsula (75°55′N 79°10′W) and across to Cape Fitz Roy (Devon Island) down the East Coast to Cape Sherard (Cape Osborn) (74°35′N 80°30′W) and across to Cape Liverpool, Bylot Island (73°44′N 77°50′W); down the East coast of this island to Cape Graham Moore, its southeastern point, and thence across to Cape Macculloch (72°29′N 75°08′W) and down the East coast of Baffin Island to East Bluff, its Southeastern extremity, and thence the Eastern limit of Hudson Strait]. — International Hydrographic Organization, Limits of Oceans and Seas, 3rd edition How cold does Baffin Island get? Fall and spring weather is variable, with temperatures between 0°C and -30°C. The snow begins to melt in May, but the sea ice doesn't break up until the end of July. Winter temperatures hover…
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