Baffin Bay

Map of Baffin Island and surrounding areas, including Baffin Bay.

See also: Baffin Bay, Texas

Baffin Bay is a sea between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. It is 1,130 km (700 mi) across from north to south. It is not navigable most of the year because of the presence of large numbers of icebergs.

An iceberg at the edge of the Baffin Bay's sea ice.

Baffin Bay is bounded by Baffin Island in the west, Greenland in the east, and Ellesmere Island in the north. It connects to the Atlantic through Davis Strait, and to the Arctic through several narrow channels of Nares Strait. These channels are covered year-round by the polar ice cap.

In the 1800s the bay was an important whaling region. The British explorer John Davis was first to enter the bay in 1585. The bay is named after William Baffin, the first person to navigate the bay, in 1616.