the. Labrador Current would appreciably warm tlie latter, thus de- 

 stroyinof the classic identity of Labrador Current Water as defined by 

 standard T-S diagrams. This was the case as observed during tlie 1966 

 Ice Pati'ol season. Higher than average sea temperatures were observed 

 all over the Ice Patrol oceanic areas of interest during the Ice Patrol 

 season. The U.S.C.G. Cutter Evergreen\s oceanographic survey (refer 

 to fig. 10) indicated an absence of any well-defined Labrador Current. 



The width of the field ice off tlie Labrador coast was abnormally nar- 

 row during the late winter months. At Saglek, Labrador, there was a 

 sharp change in the field ice depth along the coast (refer to figs. 2, 4, 

 7, 9, and 11). The assumption is made that the g\'re of warm water, 

 forecast to exist in the Labrador Sea, encountered the ice near Saslek 

 and ice deterioration was nearly as rapid as the southern drift of the ice. 



Another indication of the existence of much warmer water was the 

 open lead of water existing along the west Greenland coast that 

 opened very early in the spring as far north as I^pernavik. Baffin Bay 

 was entirelv free of ice by September. 



Other factors affecting the absence of bergs south of latitude 48° N. 

 were the i-elatively low count and predominantly small size of bergs 

 in Baffin Bay observed during the October and December 1965 

 berg census flights, the consistent onshore winds over Labrador coastal 

 waters during most of the months preceding and during the ice season, 

 the warmer than normal air temi^eratures, and the hurricane force 

 winds of the 29th of January and tlie 15th of February 1966. 



Northern ice observation flights from Argentia, Newfoundland, past 

 Labrador and Baffin Bay to the area just south of Thule, Greenland, 

 in October and December 1965 showed well less than nonnal iceberg 

 supply. A comparison of the 1964 and 1965 iceberg census flights showed 

 that 49 percent of the observed bergs were small in 1964 to 73 percent 

 in 1965. Since the total counts were approximately equal, the forecast 

 for bergs south of 4S° N. for the 1966 .season could be expected to be not 

 more than half of that observed in 1965. The proviso that comparable 

 oceanographic and meteorological conditions would prevail had to be 

 made. It was additionally forecast (refer to "Keport of the Inter- 

 national Ice Patrol Services in the North Atlantic of 1965") that, under 

 favorable iceberg envii-onmental conditions, as few as 20 icebergs could 

 be expected to survive the journey south to the Grand Banks. On the 

 4th of January 1966, strong cyclonic activity passed over Newfound- 

 land, drifting the icebergs westward against the coastline and ac- 

 celerating deterioration. The intense low jDressure system of the 29th 

 of January did immense property damage and wreaked havoc with 

 Newfoundland coastal towns. The same system completely destroyed 

 all the icebergs south of latitude 54°50' N. On the 15th of February 

 another intense low passed over southern Labrador. So destructive 

 were these storms to bergs and pack ice that a revised forecast, based on 



