Ice and Environmental Conditions 



Introduction 



By any measure, the International 

 Ice Patrol's 2001 ice year was light, with 

 only 89 icebergs estimated to have passed 

 south of 48°N and a 93-day season length. 

 This section describes evolution of the 

 2001 iceberg season and the 

 environmental conditions it accompanied. 



The IIP ice year extends from 

 October through September. The following 

 month-by-month narrative of the progress 

 of the 2001 ice season begins as sea ice 

 began forming along the Labrador coast in 

 early December 2000, and concludes in 

 early July 2001 as the last remnants of the 

 sea ice left the Labrador coast. The 

 narrative draws from several sources, 

 including the Seasonal Summary for 

 Eastern Canadian Waters, Winter 2000- 

 2001 (Canadian Ice Service, 2001a); sea 

 ice analyses provided by the Canadian Ice 

 Service and the National Ice Center; and 

 the Integrated Global Ocean Services 

 System Products sea surface temperature 

 anomaly (IRI/LDEO Climate Data Library, 

 2001); and, finally, summaries of the 

 iceberg data collected by Ice Patrol and 

 CIS. Monthly maps of the sea ice 

 distribution are shown on pages 23 to 28. 

 Pages 30 to 36 document the limit of all 

 known ice twice a month for the duration of 

 the season. 



Comparing the 2000-2001 sea ice 

 and iceberg observations to the historical 

 record emphasizes the departures from 

 normal and gives a greater appreciation for 

 the variability of the ice distribution in the 

 western North Atlantic. For sea ice. Sea 

 Ice Climatic Atlas, East Coast of Canada, 

 1971-2000 (Canadian Ice Service, 2001b) 

 provides a 30-year median of ice 

 concentration at seven-day intervals for the 



period from November 26 through July 16. 

 Viekman and Baumer (1995) present an 

 iceberg limits climatology from mid-March 

 to July 30 based on 21 years of Ice Patrol 

 observations from 1975 through 1995. 

 They provide the extreme, median, and 

 minimum extent of the limit of all known ice 

 for the period. Finally, the average number 

 of icebergs estimated to have drifted south 

 of 48°N for each month was calculated 

 using 101 years (1900 through 2000) of IIP 

 records. 



The pre-season sea ice forecast 

 (Canadian Ice Service, 2000), which was 

 Issued in early December, predicted: 



• one week later than normal 

 freeze-up along the Labrador 

 coast and in east Newfoundland 

 waters, 



• movement of the ice edge into the 

 Strait of Belle Isle during the first 

 week of January 2001 , 



• sea ice reaching Cape Bonavista 

 during the first week of February , 



• maximum extent of the sea ice in 

 mid-March, with the ice edge 

 slightly farther north than normal, 

 and 



• normal retreat of the southern ice 

 edge in the spring. 



December 2000 



Much warmer than normal air 

 temperatures along the Labrador coast 

 during the second half of December 2000 

 delayed freeze-up along the coast and in 

 the Strait of Belle Isle by two weeks. At 

 month's end the Strait of Belle Isle was 

 mostly free of sea ice, with only patchy sea 

 ice along the north side of the Strait. 



December set the stage for what 

 was to become an extraordinary winter in 



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