Labrador Sea

Labrador Sea, northwestern arm of the North Atlantic Ocean, between Labrador, Canada (southwest), and Greenland (northeast). It is connected with Baffin Bay (north) through Davis Strait and with Hudson Bay (west) through Hudson Strait. The cold, low-salinity Labrador Current flows southward along the Canadian coast, while the warmer and more saline West Greenland Current moves northward along the Greenland coast. Because the Labrador Current carries numerous icebergs, the main shipping routes are in the eastern part of the sea, where the navigation season extends from midsummer to late fall. Cod fishing is a major industry of the Greenland ports. Many early explorers passed through the Labrador Sea in search of the Northwest Passage, a presumed sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.