Baffin Bay pack ice. Winds are predominantly north-western through the whole year. South-eastern and eastern winds are common in July and August. Between May and July (sometimes April), a significant portion of navigable open water (polynya) forms at the extreme north of the bay, presumably due to the relatively warm Greenland Current. With an area of about in summer, it is the largest polynya of the Canadian Arctic and covers the Smith Sound between the Ellesmere Island and Greenland. This polynya has a stable position and existed for at least 9,000 years. It was first described in 1616 by William Baffin and
Shelikof Strait variances of up to 40 feet (12 meters). The strait is named after Grigory Shelikhov (1747–1795), also spelled "Shelikof", the Russian fur trader who founded the first Russian settlement in what is now Alaska at Three Saints Bay on Kodiak Island in 1784. The United States Navy seaplane tender USS "Shelikof", in commission from 1944 to 1947 and from 1952 to 1954, was named for Shelikof Strait. Shelikof Strait Shelikof Strait () is a strait on the southwestern coast of the U.S. state of Alaska between the Alaska mainland to the west and Kodiak and Afognak islands to the east.