Ice Conditions 

 1 988 Season 



The following discussion summa- 

 rizes the sea ice and iceberg 

 conditions along the Labrador and 

 Newfoundland coasts and on the 

 Grand Banks of Newfoundland for 

 the 1988 ice year. The sea ice 

 information used in this discussion 

 came from the Thirty Day Ice 

 Forecast for Northern Canadian 

 Waters published monthly by the 

 Atmospheric Environment Service 

 (AES) of Canada and the South- 

 ern Ice Limit published twice- 

 monthly by the U.S. Navy-NOAA 

 Joint Ice Center. Information on 

 the mean sea ice extent was 

 obtained from Naval Oceanogra- 

 phy Command, 1986. 



October 1987: No sea ice was 

 seen south of 65' N in October 

 (Figure 11), which is normally the 

 case (Naval Oceanographic 

 Command, 1986). There were six 

 icebergs reported south of 52' N in 

 October, but none of these were 

 south of 48° N. 



November 1987: In mid-Novem- 

 ber, sea ice began to form in 

 Davis Strait and Frobisher Bay 

 (Figure 12). The mean extent of 

 sea ice in November was confined 

 to the southern tip of Baffin Island 

 with the maximum sea ice extent 

 covering Hudson Strait, and 

 Ungava Bay (Naval Oceano- 

 graphic Command, 1986). The ice 

 edge in November 1987 did not 

 extend as far south as the mean. 

 There was only one iceberg 

 reported south of 52° N in Novem- 

 ber, and none reported south of 

 48° N. 



December 1987: The sea ice 



edge extended to the northern tip 

 of Labrador by mid-December 

 (Figure 13). The mean extent of 

 sea ice along the Labrador coast 

 in December is usually as far 

 south as Lake Melville. Mild 

 temperatures in Labrador and 

 Newfoundland during the first half 

 of December (AES, 1988), pre- 

 vented the sea ice from extending 

 as far south as the mean. There 

 were no icebergs reported south 

 of 52° N in December. 



January 1988: Cold tempera- 

 tures during the last half of De- 

 cember and into January (AES, 

 1988) enhanced sea ice growth. 

 As a result, by mid-January, the 

 sea ice conditions were nearly 

 normal for this time of year (Figure 

 14). There were no icebergs 

 reported south of 52° N in Janu- 

 ary. 



February 1988: Below normal 

 temperatures continued into 

 February. Labrador and northern 

 Newfoundland reported tempera- 

 tures about 5° to 7° C below 

 normal while central and southern 

 Newfoundland were about 2° to 4° 

 C below normal (AES, 1988). In 

 addition, the average winds had 

 more of an offshore component 

 than normal. As a result, the sea 

 ice was thicker than normal (AES, 

 1988), and extended farther east 

 than normal (Figure 15). The ice 

 edge extended south along 

 Newfoundland to the Avalon 

 Peninsula. The ice conditions in 

 mid-February were similar to that 

 normally expected for the end of 



Febmary, so the ice conditions 

 had developed two weeks earlier 

 than normal (AES, 1988). There 

 were 67 icebergs observed south 

 of 52" N in February; but none 

 were reported south of 48" N. 



March 1988: The sea ice edge 

 was farther north in mid-March 

 than it was in mid-February 

 (Figure 16). Temperatures for the 

 last two weeks of February were 

 1° to 2° C above normal over the 

 waters east of Newfoundland 

 (AES, 1988). As a result, the sea 

 ice edge did not extend as far 

 south as it normally does. The 

 winds continued to have an 

 offshore component (AES, 1988), 

 keeping the eastern sea ice edge 

 near normal. There were 35 

 icebergs reported south of 52° N, 

 and 8 reported south of 48° N. 



April 1988: The sea ice edge 

 continued to retreat northward in 

 April, but at a rate faster than 

 normal (Figure 17). By mid-April, 

 the sea ice edge was confined to 

 very close to the Newfoundland 

 coast north of Cape Freels and 

 along the Labrador coast north of 

 the Strait of Belle Isle. Northeast- 

 erly winds pushed the ice edge to 

 the west, and above normal 

 temperatures over Labrador (AES, 

 1988) increased sea ice deteriora- 

 tion. The 1988 International Ice 

 Patrol Season opened on April 13, 

 1988. Figure 23 depicts the initial 

 iceberg distribution. The icebergs 

 were widely scattered over the 

 Grand Banks of Newfoundland. 

 None of the icebergs south of 52° 

 N at the start of the season appear 

 to be in the Labrador Current. 



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