winds caused a brief re-advance of the southern 

 ice edge. By month's end, the southern ice 

 edge was near Cape St. John at the entrance of 

 Notre Dame Bay. At this time, the sea ice 

 retreat was one to two weeks ahead of normal. 



On 19 April, CCGS Henry Lcirson 

 reported a 600 m ice-island fragment at 51° 

 23'N and 54°54'W, about 25 nm east of St. 

 Anthony, Newfoundland. 



Ice Patrol aerial reconnaissance on 22 

 and 24 April found a small iceberg population 

 immediately north of 48°N and a very large 

 population between 50°N and 52°N. It was 

 clear that icebergs were starting to move 

 southward into the transatlantic shipping lanes. 

 Ice Patrol opened the iceberg season on 27 

 April (see p. 30), the latest opening date on 

 record. The southern LAKl at month's end was 

 at the 75* percentile. In April, 24 icebergs 

 passed south of 48°N, well below the monthly 

 average of 123 icebergs. 



May 



Monthly averaged air temperatures in 

 Goose Bay and St. John's were normal during 

 May. During the month, sea ice retreated from 

 east Newfoundland waters at a pace that was 

 two to three weeks faster than normal. The 



th 



Figure 24. Ice-island fragment (422 m by 3 14 m) found on the Grand 

 Banks of 8 June 2004. (Photo courtesy of Pip Rudkin, PAL.) 



disappearance of sea ice from the Strait of 

 Belle Isle led the Canadian Coast Guard to 

 recommend its use for transatlantic voyages on 

 1 1 May 2004, nearly three weeks earlier than 

 last year. By mid month the southern ice edge 

 had moved to the vicinity of Belle Isle, and by 

 month's end the southern ice edge retreated 

 north of Cartwright. 



A moderate number of icebergs moved 

 onto the Grand Banks in May, with 114 

 icebergs passing south of 48°N. The monthly 

 mean for May is 151. A Provincial Aerospace 

 Limited reconnaissance flight on 25 May 

 documented a substantial iceberg population on 

 the northeast Newfoundland shelf between 

 48°30'N and 52°N. The flight found over a 

 1000 icebergs west of 5\°W. \n May, the 

 southern LAKI remained near 46°N, while the 

 eastern LAKI never extended east of 45°W (see 

 pp. 32-33). These limits are at the 75 

 percentile according to the iceberg climatology 

 of Viekman and Baumer (1995) 



June 



Sea ice continued a rapid retreat 

 northward along the coast of Labrador in June, 

 aided by above-normal air and sea-surface 

 temperatures along the northern coast. By the 

 end of the month, ice departed 

 Labrador's coast about three 

 weeks earlier than the norm. 



The number of icebergs 

 on the Grand Banks peaked in 

 early to mid June and by 15 

 June (see p. 34) Ice Patrol was 

 tracking 55 icebergs south of 

 48°N. The southern LAKI was 

 at 45°N, and the eastern LAKI 

 was near 45°W. Both values 

 were at the 75* percentile for 

 mid June. 



On 8 June, an ice-island 

 fragment (Figure 24) was 

 found at 47°17.7'N, 47° 

 56.5'W. It measured 422 m by 

 314 m with an estimated mass 



19 



