February. Iceberg counts were below normal in all 

 other areas except for high concentration on the 

 southwest side of Davis Strait. Sea ice conditions 

 off the coast of Newfoundland changed very little 

 during the last two weeks of February. Periods of 

 ice congestion occurred in Notre Dame Bay and a 

 few strips of ice drifted south of Cape Freels. No 

 ice had spread east of 52°W during the month. No 

 icebergs drifted south of 48°N during February. 



March 1978 



The southernmost icebergs observed during the 

 second series of preseason flights were first 

 located aground in the vicinity of Fogo Island on 4 

 March. During the last preseason flight on 6 

 March, several of these icebergs were found adrift 

 with the southernmost located at 49°26'N 

 53°30'W. A few growlers were sighted southeast 

 of these bergs. The southernmost was at 48°48'N 

 52°42'W on 4 March. During the first two weeks of 

 March, there were no major changes in the limits 

 of sea ice off Newfoundland. A relatively narrow 

 band of heavy ice remained in proximity to the 

 coast at mid month. Northerly wind-flow carried a 

 tongue of sea ice southward to the latitude of St. 

 John's during the second week of March. The first 

 sea ice to cross 48°N did so on about 12 March. The 

 International Ice Patrol Season officially com- 

 menced and the ice reconnaissance detachment 

 deployed to St. John's on 20 March. Recon- 

 naissance flights on 21, 23 and 24 March (figure 5) 

 established the Southern and eastern limit of 

 icebergs and growlers in the vicinity of the Grand 

 Banks. The southernmost ice sighted during the 

 month was a growler at 47°27'N 51°43'W on 21 

 March. This ice probably crossed 48°N on about 18 

 March with a size large enough to be classified as 

 an iceberg and would have thus been the first 

 iceberg to have crossed 48°N. Very cold 

 temperatures during mid to late March resulted in 

 a considerable amount of new ice growth. Offshore 

 winds in late March caused a seaward expansion of 

 the sea ice pack. The effect of this flow can also be 

 seen in the iceberg distribution as bergs south of 

 50 °N began to pull away from the coast and move 

 toward the core of the Labrador Current. By the 

 end of the month both the eastern limit of sea ice 

 and icebergs had reached 49°W. Although no 

 icebergs were actually sighted south of 48°N dur- 

 ing March, a total of 5 icebergs were predicted to 

 have crossed this latitude based on southern 



growler sightings during March and icebergs 

 observed south of 48°N during early April. This 

 number was significantly below the 1946-1978 

 average of 33. 



April 1978 



Ice conditions as they were predicted to exist on 

 1 April are shown in figure 6. The first iceberg 

 reported south of 48 °N during 1978 was sighted on 

 5 April aground in position 46°59'N 52°50'W. This 

 berg probably crossed 48 °N on about 26 March. 

 Flights on 9, 10 and 14 April (figure 7) located a 

 few icebergs south of 48 °N but the main concen- 

 tration was between 48°N and 49°N west of 49°W. 

 On 8 April two different Scandinavian aircraft, on 

 trans-Atlantic flights, reported sighting a large 

 iceberg in positions 57°28'N 36°28'W and 57°35'N 

 36°40'W respectively. Although the two reports 

 gave slightly different positions, they are assumed 

 to be sightings of the same berg. This iceberg was 

 undoubtably of East Greenland origin blown south 

 by prevailing north winds over the area during 

 March. During early to mid April, the sea ice 

 reached its SE limit for the 1978 season at roughly 

 47°50'N 49°30'W. The eastern extreme of sea ice 

 was reached on about 14 April at 48°20'N 48°45'W 

 and the southern extreme on 20 April with a few 

 belts and strips reaching 47°N 52°30'W. This sea 

 ice cover was appreciably less than normal, which 

 was one of the primary factors responsible for 

 limiting the number of icebergs that survived to 

 cross 48°N. On the east slope of the Grand Banks, 

 no icebergs drifted south of 47 °N or east of 48° W 

 during April. A few bergs drifted south through 

 the Avalon Channel. One of these survived to drift 

 southeast of Cape Race. The remnants of this berg 

 were last sighted on 24 April as 3 growlers near 

 45°44'N 52°27'W. These growlers were not believed 

 to have survived to reach 45°30'N. The large con- 

 centration of icebergs south of 48°N during April 

 was observed during a reconnaissance flight on 29 

 April (figure 8). Southerly and southwestern winds 

 during the latter part of April retarded the 

 southward drift of icebergs just north of the Grand 

 Banks. No icebergs were reported south of 48°N 

 during the last week in April and the first two 

 weeks in May with the exception of a few icebergs 

 along the coast west of 52°W (figure 9). By 

 month's end, the sea ice had retreated well north 

 of 48 °N. A total of 28 icebergs were estimated to 

 have crossed 48° during the month of April. 



