In the station climatology figure above, the Centrale plot is representative of the high Greenland Ice Sheet. In summer, the coastal regions of Greenland experience temperatures similar to the islands in the Canadian Archipelago, averaging just a few degrees above freezing in July, with slightly higher temperatures in the south and west than in the north and east. The interior ice sheet remains snow-covered throughout the summer, though significant portions do experience some snow melt. This snow cover, combined with the ice sheet's elevation, help to keep temperatures here lower, with July averages between . Along the coast, temperatures are kept from varying too much by the moderating influence of the nearby water or melting sea ice. In the interior, temperatures are kept from rising much above freezing because of the snow-covered surface but can drop to even in July. Temperatures above 20 °C are rare but do sometimes occur in the far south and south-west coastal areas. Ice-free seas Most Arctic seas are covered by ice for part of the year (see the map in the sea-ice section below); 'ice-free' here refers to those which are not covered year-round. The only regions that remain ice-free throughout the year are the southern part of the Barents Sea and most of the Norwegian Sea. These have very small annual temperature variations; average winter temperatures are kept near or above the freezing point of sea water (about ) since the unfrozen ocean cannot have a temperature below that, and summer temperatures in the parts of these regions that are considered part of the Arctic average less than . During the 46-year period when weather records were kept on Shemya Island, in the southern Bering Sea, the average temperature of the coldest month (February) was and that of the warmest month (August) was ; temperatures never dropped below or rose above ; Western Regional Climate Center) The rest of the seas have ice cover for some part of the winter and spring, but lose that ice during the summer. These regions have summer temperatures between about . The winter ice cover allows temperatures to drop much lower in these regions than in the regions that are ice-free all year. Over most of the seas that are ice-covered seasonally, winter temperatures average between about . Those areas near the sea-ice edge will remain somewhat warmer due to the moderating influence of the nearby open