Nares Strait Nares Strait Nares Strait (; ) is a waterway between Ellesmere Island and Greenland that is the northern part of Baffin Bay where it meets the Lincoln Sea. From south to north, the strait includes Smith Sound, Kane Basin, Kennedy Channel, Hall Basin and Robeson Channel. During 1962–64 a 20 km by 10 km ice island drifted southward from the Lincoln Sea through the Nares and Davis Straits to the Atlantic Ocean (Labrador Sea). 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.
Baffin Island in the middle of the island, has been retreating since at least the early 1960s, when the Geographical Branch of the then-Department of Mines and Technical Surveys sent a three-man survey team to the area to measure isostatic rebound and cross-valley features of the Isortoq River. Conversely, in the 1970s parts of Baffin Island failed to have the usual ice-free period in the summer. The island has been continuously inhabited by Inuit peoples for centuries. In September 2008, "Nunatsiaq News" reported that a team led by Dr. Patricia Sutherland of the Canadian Museum of Civilization had found archaeological remains of