Sea ice
The majority of sea ice export takes place on the eastern edges of the Arctic Ocean circulation near Greenland through the Fram Strait. Sea ice export through the Canadian archipelago was originally assumed to be zero, but that is not the case. The Lincoln Sea contains very thick multi-year sea ice, and so was thought to be stationary because of the apparent lack of oceanic outlets. However, according to a Canadian sea ice study, an area of approximately 22500 km2 of multi-year sea ice is drained through the Nares Strait each year. During the Northern Hemisphere winter, an area of about 225 km2 of ice reforms, resulting in 335 km2 of total sea ice drainage. Although this represents only one of the many pathways from the Arctic Ocean basin through the Canadian archipelago, "…this [total drainage] is an order of magnitude less than the flux of sea ice out of [the] Fram Strait."