eastern LAKI was at the minimum and the 

 southern limit was nearing minimum 

 extent. In June, Ice Patrol estimated that 

 four icebergs passed south of 48°N. The 

 average for the month is 87. 



Although icebergs had departed the 

 North Atlantic shipping lanes for the 2001 

 ice season, there remained a substantial 

 iceberg population farther to the north. A 

 series of six CIS ice reconnaissance flights 

 at the end of June and beginning of July 

 and reports from the Canadian icebreaker 

 CCGS Pierre Radisson documented an 

 extensive population of icebergs from the 

 Strait of Belle Isle to Cape Chidley, the 

 northernmost point of Labrador. Over 

 1000 icebergs were observed. 



July 



By early July, sea ice had 

 disappeared from the Labrador coast. 

 Throughout the month, the number of 

 icebergs north of Newfoundland declined 

 sharply, and by month's end there were 

 only scattered icebergs south of Hamilton 

 Inlet. No icebergs passed south of 48°N 

 during the month. 



Summary 



Classifying the severity of the 2001 

 season is straightfonA/ard. With the 93-day 

 season length and 89 icebergs estimated 

 to have passed south of 48°N, the season 

 falls solidly in the short and light categories 

 defined by Trivers (1994). Furthermore, 

 the extent of the iceberg distribution rarely 

 exceeded the 75'^ percentile during the 

 season, again pointing to a very light 

 iceberg year. 



Neither the air temperatures nor the 

 sea surface temperatures in east 

 Newfoundland waters appeared to be 

 dominant factors in the development of the 



ice season. Sea ice arrived late in east 

 Newfoundland waters and its development 

 was hindered greatly by frequent storms 

 traveling south of the island. Although the 

 southern extent of the sea ice was near 

 normal, even exceeding it at times, the 

 eastern extent was dramatically less than 

 normal most of the year, owing to the 

 persistent storminess. By the end of 

 March, the time when the sea ice normally 

 begins its slow northward retreat, it was 

 packed tightly against the coast. The pre- 

 season sea ice forecast proved to be 

 accurate for the early part of the season, 

 including the progress of the ice edge to 

 Cape Bonavista. After that, the impact of 

 the storms dominated the sea ice 

 distribution. 



The severity of the 2001 iceberg 

 season was consistent with both the early 

 season predictions based on pre-season 

 reconnaissance and the observed strong 

 negative NAO phase. Though limited in 

 scope, the reconnaissance in January and 

 February showed a sparse iceberg 

 population along the Labrador coast in 

 position to move into the shipping lanes 

 during the early part of the season. Late in 

 the season, many icebergs were seen 

 along the Labrador coast, but seasonal 

 warming of the ocean waters lead to their 

 destruction before they could move to east 

 Newfoundland waters. From December 

 2000 through March 2001 there was a 

 strong negative phase of the NAO 

 (Wagner, 2001), which is characterized by 

 abnormally high atmospheric pressure at 

 high latitudes and a North Atlantic storm 

 track that is displaced southward. The 

 winter (December through March) North 

 Atlantic Oscillation Index was -1.89 

 (Hurrell, 2001). The location of the storm 

 track and the frequent storms that traveled 

 along it dominated the environmental 

 conditions east of Newfoundland in 2001 . 



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