Ice and Environmental Conditions 



Introduction 



For the second year in a row, large 

 numbers of icebergs entered the North 

 Atlantic Ocean shipping lanes near the 

 Grand Banks of Newfoundland (Figure 17), 

 with an estimated 927 icebergs passing 

 south of 48°N. This section describes 

 progression of the 2003 ice season and the 

 environmental conditions it accompanied. 



The IIP ice year extends from 

 October through September. The following 

 month by month narrative begins as sea 

 ice began forming along the Labrador 

 coast in early December 2002, and 

 concludes in mid July 2003 with the closing 



of the MP's iceberg season. The narrative 

 draws from several sources, including the 

 Seasonal Summary for Eastern Canadian 

 Waters, Winter 2002-2003 (Canadian Ice 

 Service, 2003); sea ice analyses provided 

 by CIS and NIC; and sea surface 

 temperature anomaly plots provided by the 

 U. S. National Weather Service's Climate 

 Prediction Center (Climate Prediction 

 Center, 2004); and, finally, summaries of 

 the iceberg data collected by IIP and CIS. 

 The plots on pages 31 to 40 document the 

 LAKI twice a month (the 15th and last day 

 of each month) for the duration of the ice 

 season. In addition, the LAKI for the 

 opening (24 March) and closing (17 July) 

 days of the season are presented. 







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Figure 17. Grand banks of Newfoundland. 



15 



