Ice Conditions 

 1 985 Season 



October - November 1984: 



Ice formation was delayed in 

 October by warm temperatures 

 (Figure 1 and Table 5) . By mid- 

 November, some ice was forming 

 in the Foxe Basin and Frobisher 

 Bay (Figure 11). Freeze-up 

 continued gradually through 

 November and by the end of the 

 month, Ungava Bay and Hudson 

 Strait were completely covered by 

 light ice. Much of Hudson Bay 

 remained ice-free. There were 14 

 icebergs south of 48°N during 

 October and November, which is 

 unusually high. 



December 1984: By mid- 

 month, sea ice had fomried south 

 along the Labrador coast and 

 closed the Strait of Belle Isle 

 (Figure 12). It held this position 

 through the rest of the month 

 with some formation beginning in 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The 

 colder temperatures experienced 

 in December (Table 5) and the 

 northerly flow over the region 

 contributed to the advance of ice. 

 During December, 7 more 

 icebergs were sighted south of 

 48°N. 



January 1985: By January 15, 

 the southem limit of sea ice had 

 reached the vicinity of Cape 

 Freels (Figure 13). On January 

 22, the sea ice had reached Cape 

 Bonavista and a tongue of ice was 

 being carried south in the 

 Labrador Current to 

 approximately 48°N 49°W. With 

 continued low temperatures and 

 northerly winds, sea ice fonned 

 rapidly, expanding to the Grand 



Banks. This provided protection 

 for icebergs moving south and 

 also retarded their drift so that 

 only two icebergs drifted south of 

 48°N during January. 



February 1985: On 12 



February, a broad expanse of ice 

 was as far south as Cape Race 

 and extended out to 47°W from 

 that point. A tongue of three- to 

 five-tenths first year ice was 

 estimated to extend 

 approximately to 46°N 47°W 

 (Figure 14) which terminated oil 

 drilling operations on the Grand 

 Banks for over 30 days. Sea ice 

 formation progressed rapidly 

 throughout the month and by 26 

 Febmary an expanse of nine- to 

 ten-tenths first year ice covered 

 the area from midway between 

 Cape St. Francis and Cape Race 

 to approximately 45°N 46°W. Due 

 to the number of sightings in early 

 February, an IIP pre-season flight 

 was made 20-25 February, during 

 which 64 k^bergs were sighted, 

 57 of which were south of 48°N. 



March 1985: A bng tongue of 

 ice started forming in the 

 Labrador Current during early 

 March and by 1 2 March had 

 reached 43°N 48°W (Figure 15). 

 The first regular season 

 ICERECDET, planned for 12 

 March, was delayed until 1 7-27 

 March by an aircraft mishap in 

 Groton on 1 2 March. There were 

 1 29 cebergs estimated to have 

 drifted south of 48°N during 

 March and there were 168 

 icebergs on ptot at IIP on 29 

 March (Figure 23). 



April 1985: With near normal 

 temperatures (Table 5) and 

 westerly/southwesterly flow 

 (Figure 4) , the sea ice had 

 receded somewhat by 1 6 April 

 and a small shore lead had 

 opened along the northeast 

 coast of Newfoundland (Figure 

 16). While on an ceberg 

 reconnaissance flight on 1 5 April, 

 HC-1 30 CG-1 504 dropped a 

 memorial wreath at positon 

 4r56'N50°14'Wto 

 commenrx)rate the tragic sinking 

 of the RMS TITANIC 73 years 

 earlier. During April, normally a 

 heavy iceberg month, an 

 estimated 208 icebergs drifted 

 south of 48°N and 176 icebergs 

 were on plot on 30 April (Figure 

 25). 



May 1985: Sea k:e retreated in 

 May with a region of three- to five- 

 tenths coverage remaining as far 

 south as Cape Freels on 1 4 May 

 (Figure 17). With the receding ice 

 edge releasing k;ebergs to open 

 water, May was a heavy kieberg 

 month, with 205 icebergs 

 estimated to have drifted south of 

 48°N. This large populatran of 

 icebergs provided a good supply 

 of experimental subjects for the 

 detection , drift and deterioration 

 experiments (Appendices B, C 

 and D). There were 272 icebergs 

 on plot on 30 May (Figure 27). 



June 1985: The retreat of sea 

 ice continued in June (Figure 18). 

 By 25 June only strips and 

 patches remained south of Cape 

 BaukJ. The shipping season for 

 the Strait of Belle Isle was 



41 



