March 1987: The 1987 

 International Ice Patrol season 

 opened on March 12. Figure 

 24 shows the iceberg distribu- 

 tion at the beginning of the 

 season. In mid-March, thin 

 first-year sea ice advanced 

 from the Avalon Peninsula 

 south over the Grand Banks 

 (Figure 17). The sea ice edge 

 was again close to its mean 

 extent. Towards the end of 

 March, drastic changes in the 

 sea ice extent occurred. Figure 

 26 shows the sea ice pushed off 

 the Grand Banks with all the 

 remaining sea ice confined to 

 close to the east and south coast 

 of Newfoundland. The iceberg 

 distribution on March 30 

 showed a marked shift to the 

 west compared to March 15 

 (Figure 25). Between March 

 15 and March 30, the prevail- 

 ing winds were easterly (AES 

 1987), forcing the sea ice and 

 icebergs westward. There were 

 57 new icebergs south of 52°N 

 in March; 48 of these icebergs 

 were south of 48°N. At the end 

 of March, there were 25 

 icebergs on plot (Figure 26). 



April 1987: The unusual 

 sea ice distribution created by 

 the easterly winds at the end of 

 March continued into April. 

 There was no sea ice on the 

 Grand Banks or the west coast 

 of Newfoundland (Figure 18). 

 The southern coast of New- 

 foundland, usually ice free, had 

 9-10 tenths of sea ice. The 

 extent of sea ice was still near 

 average for April . The iceberg 

 distribution on April 15 



26 



(Figure 27) only extended to 

 47°W. By April 30, the 

 iceberg distribution extended to 

 43°W (Figure 28). There 

 were 117 new icebergs south 

 of 52°N; 76 of these were 

 south of 48°N. There were 

 142 icebergs on plot at the end 

 of April (Figure 28). 



May 1987: In mid-May, the 

 southern and eastern coasts of 

 Newfoundland became ice-free 

 as the sea ice retreated north- 

 ward (Figure 19). A large 

 polynya (an area of open water 

 surrounded by ice) formed 

 along the Newfoundland and 

 Labrador coasts between 50 and 

 55°N. This polynya was 

 formed from southwesterly 

 winds pushing the ice off-shore 

 (AES, 1987). Above average 

 temperatures on Newfoundland 

 and southern Labrador had 

 accelerated the sea ice retreat 

 in these regions. As the sea ice 

 retreated northward, large 

 numbers of icebergs were 

 released to drift southward. 

 With 236 new icebergs south 

 of 52°N, May was the heaviest 

 month for new icebergs. Only 

 29 of these icebergs were south 

 of 48°N. Only a few of these 

 icebergs drifted with the 

 Labrador Current through 

 Flemish Pass. There were 158 

 icebergs on plot the end of May 

 (Figure 30). 



June 1987: By mid-June, 

 the ice edge had retreated to 

 Goose Bay (Figure 20). This is 

 the typical pattern of retreat in 

 June (Naval Oceanographic 

 Command, 1986). The number 

 of new icebergs south of 52°N 

 was again high in June. There 

 were 215 new icebergs south 

 of 52°N in June; 127 of these 

 were south of 48°N. By mid- 

 June, a large number of ice- 

 bergs had drifted onto the Grand 

 Banks (Figure 31). Most of 

 these icebergs were gone by the 

 end of June with most of the 

 remaining icebergs north of 

 48°N (Figure 32). There were 

 64 icebergs on plot the end of 

 June (Figure 32). 



July 19 87: The sea ice edge 

 continued to retreat northward, 

 but at a slower rate than 

 normal. By mid-July, the sea 

 ice edge has usually retreated 

 to Baffin Island, with some sea 

 ice also persisting in Ungava 

 Bay. In mid-July 1987, 

 however, the sea ice edge was 

 still down along the Labrador 

 Coast (Figure 21). The tem- 

 peratures in July on Labrador 

 were colder than normal (Table 

 6) and these cooler tempera- 

 tures may have caused the sea 

 ice edge to retreat slower than 

 it would have normally. There 

 were 25 new icebergs south of 

 52°N; 15 of these were south 

 of 48°N. There were 10 

 icebergs on plot the end of July 

 (Figure 34). The 1987 

 International Ice Patrol season 

 was closed on July 31 ,1987. 



