Labrador coast and into east 

 Newfoundland waters, only two icebergs 

 were estimated to have moved south of 

 48^N during April. In an average April, 119 

 icebergs pass south of 48'N. 



May 



In May, both Labrador and east 

 Newfoundland waters experienced 

 moderate northwesterlies dunng the first 

 half of the month and light and variable 

 winds in the second half. In both areas, 

 the air temperature was 4'C to 5'C warmer 

 than normal in the first half of the month. 

 In east Newfoundland waters and along 

 the southern Labrador coast, the air 

 temperature was about 3X warmer than 

 normal in the latter half of the month. In 

 both areas, the ice thickness was less than 

 normal for the month. In early May (Figure 

 15) the sea ice retreat continued, and by 

 mid-month the areal extent of the sea ice in 

 southern Labrador and east Newfoundland 

 waters increased somewhat due to the 

 ongoing break up of the sea ice upstream. 

 However, south of Cartwright, the 

 concentration was 2/10 or less in most 

 areas. On May 25, the Strait of Belle Isle 

 was declared open for ship traffic, and by 

 the end of May, sea ice had nearly 

 disappeared from southern Labrador and 

 east Newfoundland waters. What 



remained was isolated in bays along the 

 Northern Peninsula and southern Labrador 

 coast. 



In the 100 years (1900 through 

 1999) of HP's database of icebergs passing 

 south of 48°N, May is most frequently the 

 month in which most icebergs are counted, 

 with an average of 146. Despite the 

 extraordinarily large numbers of icebergs 

 immediately to the north, in May, only 

 eleven icebergs were estimated to have 

 passed south of 48°N. The southernmost 

 iceberg seen by the Ice Patrol 

 reconnaissance aircraft was a medium 



drydock sighted on May 17 at 47^28'N and 

 50°34W. 



Figure 15. May 9, 1999 SeaWiFs image showing the sea 

 ice distribution in east Newfoundland waters and along the 

 Labrador coast. (Image provided by the SeaWiFs Project, 

 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and ORBIMAGE) 



June and July 



The early June disappearance of 

 the sea ice from east Newfoundland waters 

 was approximately consistent with mean 

 conditions. However, the sea ice retreat 

 left behind numerous icebergs east of 

 Newfoundland between 49'N and 52°N 

 and over 100 icebergs in the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence and Strait of Belle Isle. 



Figures 16 and 17 show the 1999 

 iceberg distribution in early June and in 

 early July. On June 3, CIS was tracking 

 nearly 2000 icebergs off the northern 

 Nev^oundland peninsula and the Labrador 

 coast; by July 2 that number had increased 

 to over 3000 icebergs. Both figures show 

 icebergs that had recently been detected 

 by extensive aerial reconnaissance 



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