Ice and Environmental Conditions 



Introduction 



After two consecutive active iceberg 

 seasons in 2002 and 2003, 2004 was a dramatic 

 change. It had the latest season opening date, 

 27 April, in Ice Patrol history. By the 

 traditional measures of season severity, season 

 length (92 days) and iceberg count (262), 2004 

 was a light and short iceberg season. This 

 section describes its progression and the 

 accompanying environmental conditions. 



The HP ice year extends from October 

 through September. The following month-by- 

 month narrative begins as sea ice began 

 forming along the Labrador coast (Figure 17) 

 in late December 2003 and concludes in late 



July with the closing of HP's iceberg season. 

 The narrative draws from the following 

 sources: Seasonal Sumtmiry for Eastern 

 Canadian Waters. W inter 200 3 -2004 {Candi6\dsy 

 Ice Service. 2004); sea-ice analyses provided 

 by the Canadian Ice Service and the U. S. 

 National Ice Center; sea-surface temperature 

 anomaly plots provided by the U. S. National 

 Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center 

 (Climate Prediction Center, 2004); and 

 summaries of the iceberg data collected by Ice 

 Patrol and CIS. The plots on pages 30 to 37 

 document the Limits of All Known Ice on the 

 15th and last day of each month for the 

 duration of the ice season. In addition, the 

 LAKI for the opening (27 April) and closing 



06i-0b*W 056 OO'W 051-00'W 046-00'W 041-00'W 036 



^^^^^Hamilton Inlet 

 Goose Ba /-.C'^ «ki*^'i , 



LABRADOR • ; 



052-00'N- 



;g|8-00'N- 



WO^AJpOTfiir 



J^4-00'N 



-i^ — 





040-00'N- 



/ /M--Cape SL John 

 A ^ '/z. ii (-■•Fogo islar d 

 (* ^«^- Cape Fn els 



^dEV/FOUr IDL AW^i, Pape B onavista 



PW^ 



GRAWD 



St. Francis 

 ■s 



FlernisH 

 Pass 



BAWKS 



FLEMISH 

 CAP 



Kev to Ocean Deoth 



LAND 

 - 200m 

 200 -1,000m 

 1,000 ■4,000m 

 > 4.000m 



Figure 17. Grand Banks of Newfoundland. 



13 



