miles of St. Johns. Scattered patches and strings of drift ice were 

 reported as far south as Cape Kace on 6 May but no major sea surface 

 cover existed south of latitude 47°30' N. 



Ice coiiditioiis existing on 4 May are presented by figure 11. The 

 effect of the late April storm centered in the Belle Isle area is readily 

 apparent. The northern ice is concentrated along the coast and the 

 southern ice fields are detached from their northern source. Warming 

 trentls during the second week in May hastened the deterioration of 

 the southern and eastern limits, especially the latter. However, the 

 coastal current, previousl}^ described as transporting bergs to the 

 Avalon Peninsula maintained a pack-ice threat to eastern Newfound- 

 land ports until the middle of the month. Rapid deterioration 

 followed, however, and aerial observation on 24 May revealed that the 

 southern l)ranch of the sea ice shown on figure 11 had melted entirely. 

 The pack ice in the Belle Isle area, on the other hand, remained 

 ominoush' heavy and within very nearly the same limits as shown 

 by figure 11. At tlie month's end this ice was once again advanchig 

 southward. 



In tlie Gulf of St. Lawrence all pack ice had disappeared by 3 May 

 except in the extreme northeast arm at the western approaches to 

 the Strait of Belle Isle where heavy polar ice persisted throughout 

 the month. Small icel)ergs continued seaward drifts through Cabot 

 Strait until 14 May, after which no more ice was reported on the maui 

 shipping track into tlie Gulf. The two growlers sighted on 13 May 

 south of the Miquelon Islands wei-e the last survivors of this most 

 unusual iceh(>rg occurrence. 



During an intense air and surface search of the Labrador Sea on 

 4-6 May for I he ill-fated Danish Motor Vessel Hanne S. more icebergs 

 were observed in the general area of Ocean Station Bravo than usually 

 is considered normal. This poses the (|uestion that either 1960 is 

 an abnormal year for iceberg occurrence or that more bergs habitually 

 frequent that region than heretofore has been acknowledged. 



Plot of ic(> conditions for ]\Iay within the Ice Patrol area are shown 



bv figui'e If). 

 ■ ' JUNE 



At the begiiniing of June, the juajority of icehergs within the Ice 

 Patrol area were concentrated along the Newfoundland coast. A 

 minor southeastward movement of bergs along the northern slope 

 of the (Ji'and Baidvs occurred early hi June and reached its peak on 

 the 16tli. Conditions on this day are shown 1)V figure 12. Thereafter, 

 through the (Mid of tli(> month, only occasional bergs were reported 

 in this critical region and none were observed south of latitude 47° N. 



On the Newfoundland coast concentrations remained high during 

 the early part of the month, but few new arrivals resulted in steadily 

 deteriorating numbers present. By 30 June fewer than seven bergs 

 reinained south of latitude 4S° X., over the entire area. 



10 



