Ice Conditions, 1989 



Season 



The following discussion summa- 

 rizes the sea ice and iceberg condi- 

 tions along the Labrador and New- 

 foundland coasts and on the Grand 

 BanksofNewfoundlandforthe1989 

 ice year. The sea ice information is 

 derived from the Thirty-Day Ice 

 Forecast for Northern Canadian 

 Waters published monthly by the 

 Atmospheric Environment Service 

 (AES) of Canada and the Southern 

 Ice Limit published twice-monthly 

 by the U.S. Navy-NOAA Joint Ice 

 Center. Information on the mean 

 sea ice extent was obtained from 

 the Naval Oceanography Com- 

 mand, 1986. 



October1988: Although sea ice 

 does not normally extend south of 

 65°N in October (Naval Oceano- 

 graphic Command, 1986), it was 

 seen as far south as Resolution 

 Island, approximately 62°N (Figure 

 11). There were 43 icebergs re- 

 ported south of 52° N in October, 

 and 3 of these were south of 48° N. 



November 1988: By mid-No- 

 vember, there was no sea ice south 

 of 65°N (Figure 12). The mean 

 extent of sea ice in November is 

 confined to the southern tip of Baffin 

 Island with the maximum sea ice 

 extent covering Hudson Strait, and 

 Ungava Bay (Naval Oceanographic 

 Command, 1986). The ice edge in 

 November 1 988 was less than av- 

 erage. There were no icebergs 

 reported south of 52° N in Novem- 

 ber. 



December 1988: The sea ice edge 

 extended to the southern tip of La- 

 brador by mid-December (Figure 

 13). The sea ice edge usually ex- 

 tends only as far south as Hamilton 

 inlet in December . Temperatures 

 over the area during the first half of 

 December averaged 3.6 °C below 

 normal (AES, 1989). These colder 



than normal temperatures en- 

 hanced the sea ice growth along 

 the Labrador coast. There was 

 only one iceberg reported south of 

 52° in December, and it was not 

 south of 48 °N. 



January 1989: Temperatures in 

 Labrador and Newfoundland con- 

 tinued to be 3-5 °C below normal in 

 January (AES, 1989). As a result, 

 the growth and spread of sea ice 

 along the Labrador and New- 

 foundland coasts were about a 

 week and a half ahead of normal, 

 and the ice was thicker than normal 

 (AES, 1989). By mid-January, the 

 sea ice extended along the east 

 coast of Newfoundland into Notre 

 Dame Bay to Cape Freels (Figure 

 14). By the end of January, the 

 freezing degree days were double 

 that usually observed, and the ice 

 extent and thickness were about 

 that expected in mid-February, or 

 two weeks ahead of normal (AES, 

 1989). There were 105 icebergs 

 reported south of 52° N in January, 

 but none of these were south of 48° N 



February 1989: Colder than nor- 

 mal temperatures continued 

 through Feboiary, averaging about 

 5° C below normal (AES, 1989). In 

 addition, the winds were more 

 westerly than normal in February. 

 This resulted in the sea ice edge 

 beingfarthersouth than normal due 

 to enhanced ice growth and farther 

 east than normal due to ice drift 

 (Figure 15). There were 74 ice- 

 bergs observed south of 52° N in 

 February, and 19 of these were 

 south of 48° N. 



March 1989: The sea ice edge 

 continued to be farther south than 

 normal in March (Figure 16). The 

 1989 International Ice Patrol Sea- 

 son opened on March 1, 1989. Fig- 

 ure 23 depicts the initial iceberg 



distribution. The icebergs were dis- 

 tributed mainly north of Flemish Cap 

 and into Flemish Pass. Only one or 

 two icebergs were near the Tail of 

 the Grand Banks. By mid-March, 

 large numbers of icebergs were 

 being reported along the sea ice 

 edge with most of the icebergs in 

 open water in Flemish Pass (Figure 

 24). Most of the icebergs seemed 

 to be located in the Labrador Cur- 

 rent (Figure34). By theendof March, 

 large numbers of icebergs were 

 distributed between the Grand 

 Banks and south of Flemish Pass 

 (Figure 25). These icebergs ap- 

 peared to be moving east rather 

 than south with the Labrador Cur- 

 rent. There were 189 icebergs on 

 plot the end of March. For the whole 

 month, there were 259 icebergs 

 south of 52° N, and 127 of these 

 were south of 48° N. 



April 1989: The sea ice edge be- 

 gan to retreat northward in April. By 

 mid-April, open water existed along 

 the eastern coast of Newfoundland 

 due to the easterly drift created by 

 the westerly winds (Figure 17). The 

 ice edge was near its mean south- 

 ern and eastern positions. By mid- 

 April, the large numbers of icebergs 

 became more widely distributed to 

 the east with small numbers of 

 icebergs drifting south along the 

 Grand Banks (Figure 26). There 

 were still large numbers of icebergs 

 north of 48° N which appeared to be 

 drifting in the eastern branch of the 

 Labrador Current. Not as many 

 icebergs were to the east at the end 

 of April, but there were still large 

 numbers north of Flemish Pass 

 (Figure 27). There were 216 ice- 

 bergs on plot the end of April. There 

 were 1 93 icebergs south of 52° N in 

 April, and 68 of these were south of 

 48° N. 



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