Davis Strait

Davis Strait, broad channel, connecting the North Atlantic Ocean and Baffin Bay, and separating Greenland and Baffin Island, northeastern Canada. The strait, 600 kilometers (400 miles) long and 320 kilometers (200 miles) wide at its narrowest point, forms part of the Northwest Passage. The cold Labrador Current flows south through the strait, along the coast of Baffin Island, carrying ice floes with it during most of the year. A warm current, a branch of the North Atlantic Drift, flows north near the Greenland coast in the region of the strait's principal shipping lanes. The strait was explored by the English navigator John Davis in 1587.