(27 July) days of the season are presented. 



The progress of the 2003-2004 season is 

 compared to sea-ice and iceberg observations 

 from the historical record. The sea-ice 

 historical data are derived from the Sea Ice 

 Climatic Atlas, East Coast of Canada. 1971- 

 2000 (Canadian Ice Service, 2001), which 

 provides a 30-year median of ice concentration 

 at seven-day intervals for the period from 26 

 November through 16 July. Historical iceberg 

 information is derived from Viekman and 

 Baumer (1995), who present iceberg-limit 

 climatology from mid March to 30 July based 

 on 21 years of Ice Patrol observations from 

 1975 to 1995. They provide the extreme, 

 median, and minimum extent of the LAKI for 

 the period. Finally, the average number of 

 icebergs estimated to have drifted south of 

 48°N for each month was calculated using 104 

 years (1900-2003) of Ice Patrol records (IIP, 

 2004). 



The pre-season sea-ice forecast 

 (Canadian Ice Service, 2003), which was issued 

 in early December, predicted: 



• movement of the southern ice edge 

 into the Strait of Belle Isle during the 

 third week of January 2004, 



• that sea ice would reach Cape 

 Bonavista during the second week of 

 February, 



• that the sea ice would attain its 

 maximum extent during the third week 

 of March, with the ice edge 

 approximately at the latitude of Cape St. 

 Francis for most of the month, 



• and that sea-ice would begin to retreat 

 during the last week of the month and 

 proceed at a normal rate. 



A series of five CIS reconnaissance flights 

 conducted in late October 2003 documented a 

 population of 461 icebergs and radar targets 

 from 59°N to 70^N, with the greatest number 

 near shore or in the bays of Baffin Island. This 

 was the smallest number of icebergs seen 

 during the CIS fall survey flights in the last 



four years (Desjardins, 2003). Because of the 

 lack of a significant number of icebergs in the 

 southward-moving offshore waters, Desjardins 

 (2003) predicted a late start to the 2004 iceberg 

 season. 



December 2003 



Much warmer-than-normal November 

 and December air temperatures in Labrador 

 delayed the arrival of the southern edge of the 

 main ice pack by three to four weeks. At the 

 end of December, it reached Cape Chidley, the 

 northernmost point of Labrador. Meanwhile, 

 sea ice began forming in the bays and near- 

 shore regions along the southern Labrador 

 coast during the third week of December, 

 although the warm conditions slowed this ice 

 growth as well. Mean December sea-surface 

 temperatures were within 1 °C of normal off the 

 southern Labrador coast and on the northeast 

 Newfoundland shelf. At month's end, the 

 Strait of Belle Isle was free of sea ice. No 

 icebergs passed south of 48°N during 

 December. 



January 2004 



January's warm and stormy weather 

 conditions, particularly along the Labrador 

 coast, had a dramatic affect on sea-ice growth 

 and the iceberg season that followed. Much 

 warmer-than-normal air temperatures prevailed 

 in Labrador during the entire month (Figure 

 18), with a monthly average in Goose Bay that 

 was nearly 5°C above normal. 



This led to slow sea-ice growth along 

 the Labrador coast. During the third week of 

 January, as predicted by Canadian Ice Service 

 (2003), sea ice reached the northern part of the 

 Strait of Belle Isle, but not in sufficient quantity 

 to block the strait to marine traffic. The arrival 

 in the strait of the sea ice was about three 

 weeks later than normal. The eastward extent 

 of the sea ice along the southern Labrador coast 

 was a small fraction of normal. At Cartwright, 

 the ice edge was approximately 20 nm offshore 



14 



