62 



were located further west on the average than during the previous 

 month. This caused them to stop in the dead water or to strand 

 along the north edge of the Grand Banks in the region from 46° 40' N., 

 52° 00' W., to 47° 50' N., 49° 30' W. A few were carried to the 

 westward in the branch of the Labrador current that sets past Cape 

 Race through the Gulley. The westernmost berg of this group just 

 crossed the fifty-fourth meridian off St. Marys Bay, Newfoundland. 



Seven bergs from the large number concentrated along the northern 

 half of the eastern edge of the Grand Banks during the preceding 

 month escaped being stranded along the edge or being curved off to 

 the northeast by the inshore edge of the warm Gulf Stream influence. 

 These seven floated down the narrow band of cold water along the 

 eastern edge oft" the Tail of the Banks and were swept across the 

 forty-third parallel between the fiftieth and forty-eighth meridians. 

 By the 31st one of them reached 40° 47' N., 48° 54' W. Three daj^s 

 later this berg reached its extreme southerly position in 38° 59' N., 

 48° 57' W., which was 126 sea miles farther south than any of the 

 1927 ice drifted. 



No field ice was reported from the Grand Banks area in May. The 

 only field ice report to be received by the ice patrol during the month 

 was one of the St. Lawrence pack that by then had dwindled inshore 

 to the vicinity of 47° 40' N., 60° 00' W. The ice season in the gulf 

 was open and light and terminated unusually early. For authorita- 

 tive information regarding field ice to the west of Cape Race, one 

 should address the Department of Marine and Fisheries, Ottawa, 

 Ontario, as that department is in charge of the ice-patrol service 

 conducted by the Canadian Government for the benefit of shipping 

 entering St. Lawrence Gulf and River ports. 



JUNE 



Only eight different bergs were sighted or reported from south 

 of the forty-sixth parallel during June. Six of these were south 

 of the forty-third parallel. These six were all disintegrated during 

 the first week of the month by the relatively high surface tem- 

 peratures resulting from continued solar warming and Gulf Stream 

 mixing. Three reasons can be given for the fact that no bergs 

 are known to have crossed the forty-third parallel after June 

 5: 1. Probable actual weakening of Labrador current. 2. Temper- 

 atures of surface layers south of forty-eighth parallel well above 

 freezing, even in the Labrador current, which, coupled with 1, would 

 cause bergs to disintegrate before getting far south. 3. Failure of 

 large supply of bergs to Labrador current where it rounds the north- 

 east promontory of the Grand Banks. The ice was on the average 

 even farther west in the ocean during June than it was during May. 

 Many of the bergs were close to and stranding upon the coast of 



