Ice charts - Cape Farewell

The waters around Cape Farewell are amongst the most dangerous in the world, for navigation. This is due to the sometimes extremely harsh weather conditions combined with the existence of both icebergs and meter-thick ice floes.

The mapping of ice in the Cape Farewell region has the highest priority for DMI, and this region is therefore also the one in the Greenland Waters, for which ice charting is done most frequently.

• Front page
• Overview charts (pdf)
• International ice code (Egg code)

Regional ice charts from

• Cape Farewell
• East Greenland
• West Greenland

Cape Farewell

Cape Farewell, color (pdf)

• 21/05-2012 20:45
• 19/05-2012 21:00
• 19/05-2012 09:30
• 16/05-2012 20:45
• 16/05-2012 09:15
• 14/05-2012 20:50
• 13/05-2012 20:30
• 12/05-2012 09:35
• 09/05-2012 20:50
• 09/05-2012 09:20

Cape Farewell, B-W (pdf)

• 21/05-2012 20:45
• 19/05-2012 21:00
• 19/05-2012 09:30
• 16/05-2012 20:45
• 16/05-2012 09:15
• 14/05-2012 20:50
• 13/05-2012 20:30
• 12/05-2012 09:35
• 09/05-2012 20:50
• 09/05-2012 09:20

The ice conditions around Cape Farewell are to a great extent controlled by the East Greenland Current. This ocean current transports large quantities of sea ice and icebergs southwards along the East Greenland coast towards Cape Farewell. When the ice has reached Cape Farewell, it continues a bit northwards along the west coast. This is due to the presence of the northbound West Greenland Current.

Around Cape Farewell icebergs are found year round, whereas the region usually is free of sea ice through August-December. This is due to the fact that the ice melts away during summer, and that it takes four to five months for “Storisen” (meter-thick sea ice formed in the Polar Sea) to travel all the way southwards along the east coast of Greenland.