Baffin Island coasts and the waters east of Newfoundland. 

 The flight tracks and observed icebergs are shown in figure 

 1. The area south of Hamilton Inlet, normally iceberg free 

 in early January, had an extremely high concentration of 264 

 icebergs, seven of which were south of A8°N. Northward to 

 Hudson Strait only 64 icebergs were sighted, 5 less than normal. 

 Between Hudson Strait and just north of Cape Mercy, Baffin 

 Island only 53% of the 251 iceberg normal distribution was 

 observed, however, over 3 times the normal amount of icebergs 

 were counted in Davis Strait. The latitudinal distribution is 

 illustrated graphically in figure 2. On the basis of this 

 preseason survey plus seven additional ship reports of ice- 

 bergs south of 48°N, Ice Patrol forces were deployed to 

 Canadian Forces Base, Summerside, Prince Edward Island and 

 services were initiated on 24 January, the earliest commence- 

 ment date in Ice Patrol history. The initial ice reconnaissance 

 flights on 25, 27 and 28 January located a total of 66 bergs, 

 13 growlers and 18 radar targets as shown in figure 3. The 

 southernmost iceberg of this month reached 44°52'N 47°30'W on 

 28 January. Meanwhile ships continued to report icebergs far 

 to the southeast of Flemish Cap, reaching the easternmost 

 limit of the month at 46°07'N 41°02'W on 30 January as shown 

 in figure 4. It was estimated that a total of 54 icebergs 

 drifted south of 48°N during January. 



February 



The southern and eastern limits of sea ice off the coast 

 of Newfoundland receded during February to where the southern 

 edge of the heavy pack ice at the end of the month lay north 

 of 48°N. During the first eighteen days of the month, only 

 four observation flights were conducted due to poor on scene 

 weather generated by predominant southwesterly winds. These 

 winds also prevented any significant southerly iceberg 

 movement and promoted an eastward dispersal towards Flemish 

 Cap, distributed northward as shown in figure 5. Of signif- 

 icance in this same figure is that the northern portion of 

 the Grand Banks is relatively iceberg free, which lessened 

 the iceberg threat for the remainder of the month. Figure 6 

 shows the sea ice conditions as well as the southernmost and 

 easternmost icebergs of the month, which both occurred on 

 28 February. They had drifted to positions 44°06'N 48°51'W 

 and 46°47'N 38°32'W, respectively. It is estimated that 110 

 icebergs drifted south of 48°N during February, 22 times the 

 monthly average. 



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