ICE CONDITIONS, 1978 SEASON 



September-December 1977 



After the close of the 1977 Ice Patrol Season, 

 occasional icebergs continued to drift south along 

 the Labrador coast, but none of these survived to 

 reach the Grand Banks. No ice was reported south 

 of 51°N during September and there w^ere no ice 

 reports received by Ice Patrol during October, 

 November or December. The waters off the east 

 coast of Canada never became totally free of sea 

 ice during the early fall. A considerable amount of 

 close to very close pack ice persisted off the coast 

 of Baffin Island (between 65 °N and 71°N) 

 throughout September. This was the first time 

 since 1973 that Baffin Bay was not ice free for at 

 least a couple of weeks during the early fall. Some 

 new ice began forming during late September in 

 the northern extremes of Baffin Bay. By mid- 

 October, freeze-up had begun in earnest. Although 

 sea ice growth proceeded at the normal rate, the 

 old ice remaining from last year accounted for an 

 ice pack extent slightly ahead of normal by early 

 November. Sea ice cover extended near the normal 

 limit in December. By the end of December the 

 pack ice along the Labrador coast had reached a 

 point just north of Battle Harbour, Labrador near 

 53°N. 



January 1978 



By mid- January, sea ice growth had been 

 retarded to the point that the ice cover was less 

 than on this date for any of the last six years. The 

 Strait of Belle Isle and its eastern approach had 

 become close pack, new and grey ice. The sea ice 

 limit extended only to 51 °N and there was no ice 

 east of 54°W. There was little significant ice along 

 the east Newfoundland coast except consolidated 

 ice over southern reaches of the Bay of Exploits. 

 Between 24 January and 10 February, preseason 

 flights were made along the Labrador coast, across 

 Davis Strait, up the Baffin Island coast to Cape 

 Dyer and in the vicinity of Disko Bay, (figure 1). 

 The latitudinal iceberg distribution observed dur- 

 ing the flights is illustrated graphically in figure 2. 

 Nearly six times the average number of icebergs 

 were sighted south of 56 °N. A large part of these 



were aground off Battle Harbour, Labrador, just 

 north of Belle Isle. The southernmost iceberg 

 sighted was a small blocky shaped iceberg at 

 51°30'N 54°45'W on 7 February 1978.* 



As a result of a mild winter in Eastern Canada, 

 ice conditions off Labrador and Newfoundland at 

 the end of January were considerably less severe 

 than last year. At this time, the southern limit of 

 East Newfoundland pack ice was lying just north 

 of Notre Dame Bay with some belts and strips 

 extending 20 to 30 miles north and east of Cape 

 Freels. On 31 January, an aircraft reported 

 sighting a "giant" iceberg in position 56°55'N 

 40°34'W. This berg was probably of East 

 Greenland origin and had been forced out of the 

 primary ocean currents close to the Greenland 

 coast by a prevailing northwesterly wind over this 

 area during January. No ice reports were received 

 from ships during January. 



February 1978 



Four iceberg sightings were reported by ship- 

 ping during early February. The southernmost of 

 these was in position 50°45'N 53°10'W. By mid 

 month the Labrador sea ice pack had spread and 

 drifted south into Notre Dame Bay and around 

 Cape Freels with the southern limit reaching a 

 position just off Cape Bonavista. One or two 

 icebergs had drifted south to the vicinity of Cape 

 Freels. The second series of preseason flights were 

 completed between 20 February and 7 March. 

 Tracks flown and iceberg distributions observed 

 during these reconnaissance flights are shown in 

 figure 3. The latitudinal distribution of observed 

 icebergs is presented graphically in figure 4. 

 Observation flights were not conducted between 

 latitudes 52°N and 54°N. Based on sightings made 

 during January preseason flights, a significant 

 number of icebergs existed within this area having 

 been kept aground along the coast north of Belle 

 Isle by the prevailing onshore winds during 



* The below normal iceberg count in the vicinity of 65 °N is 

 partially accounted for by reduced visibility in this area during 

 the flights. 



