Ice Conditions 

 1987 Season 



The following discussion 

 summarizes the sea ice and 

 iceberg conditions along the 

 Labrador and Newfoundland 

 coasts and on the Grand Banks 

 of Newfoundland for the 1987 

 ice year. The sea ice type and 

 concentration information used 

 in this discussion came from 

 the Monthly 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 maximum, 

 mean, and minimum sea ice 

 extent was obtained from Naval 

 Oceanography Command, 1986. 



October 1986: Noseaice 

 was seen south of 65°N in 

 October, which is normally the 

 case (Figure 12). There were 

 no icebergs reported south of 

 52°N in October. 



November 1986: In mid- 

 November, new, young, and 

 thin first-year sea ice began to 

 form in Ungava Bay, Hudson 

 Strait, and Davis Strait (Fig- 

 ure 13). 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. Ice 

 conditions in November 1986 

 were close to the maximum 

 conditions. An unusually deep 

 Icelandic Low (Mariner's 

 Weather Log, 1987a) brought 

 below normal temperatures to 



Labrador (Table 6) which 

 enhanced the sea ice growth. 

 There were 8 icebergs reported 

 south of 52°N in November. 



December 1986: Aided by 

 continued below normal tem- 

 peratures (Table 6), the sea 

 ice edge continued to be farther 

 south than the mean and close to 

 the maximum extent of sea ice. 

 In mid-December, thin first- 

 year, young and new sea ice 

 were just north of the Strait of 

 Belle Isle (Figure 14). Con- 

 centrations were generally 8- 

 10 tenths. There were 9 

 icebergs reported south of 

 52°N in December; 5 of these 

 icebergs were south of 48°N. 



January 1987: In mid- 

 January, new and young sea ice 

 were north of the Avalon 

 Peninsula and along the eastern 

 coast of Newfoundland (Figure 

 15). The Strait of Belle Isle 

 was now ice covered with new 

 and young sea ice. The sea ice 

 again extended beyond the mean 

 limits of sea ice, but did not 

 extend to the maximum limits 

 of sea ice extent. By the end of 

 January, the sea ice growth and 

 spread was 2-3 weeks ahead of 

 normal (AES, 1987). This 

 above average sea ice growth 

 can again be attributed to below 

 normal temperatures in Lab- 

 rador and Newfoundland (Table 

 6). There were 5 icebergs 

 reported south of 52°N in 

 January; 2 of these were south 

 of 48'="N. 



February 1987: By mid- 

 February, a tongue of 9-10 

 tenths first-year sea ice 

 extended along the Labrador 

 coast, into the Strait of Belle 

 Isle, and along the eastern coast 

 of Newfoundland down to the 

 Avalon Peninsula (Figure 16). 

 Young, thin first-year, and 

 first-year sea ice were west of 

 Newfoundland with concentra- 

 tions of 9-10 tenths. The 

 extent of sea ice in February 

 was close to the mean extent. 

 The increase in temperatures 

 to warmer than normal in 

 Labrador and near normal on 

 Newfoundland (Table 6) re- 

 turned the sea ice extent to 

 near normal. There were 14 

 icebergs observed south of 

 52°N in February; all of these 

 icebergs were south of 48°N. 



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