Figure 18. Iceberg distribution on February 5. 2002 from the iceberg analysis issued by the Canadian Ice 

 Service. There are about 89 icebergs and radar targets shown on this plot, most within the sea ice edge. 



persistent retreat. In addition, westerly 

 winds during the end of March pushed the 

 southern ice edge into warmer offshore 

 waters, thereby accelerating ice 

 destruction. By month's end the southern 

 edge was north of 48^N and a large shore 

 lead developed between St. John's and 

 Fogo Island. 



In mid-March, the southern LAKI 

 was approximately 46'N, which is near the 

 75'^ percentile according to Viekman and 

 Baumer's iceberg climatology classification 

 (Viekman and Baumer, 1995). The 

 easterly extent was near the median. 

 During the second half of March there was 

 an explosive southward growth of the 

 iceberg distribution, and by month's end 

 the southern LAKI was located at 40°N, a 

 change of 380 nautical miles in just 16 

 days. This extreme position of the 

 southern extent of LAKI for the end of 



March was caused by an unusually 

 vigorous southward flow of the offshore 

 branch of the Labrador Current and the 

 complex shape of the North Atlantic 

 Current near the tail of the bank. Drifter 

 11831 (Figure 19), which was deployed 



4a»N-k 



46''N-! 



S7°W 54°W 51°W 48°W 46°W 42°W 



Figure 19. The track of drifter 1 1831 for the period 

 11 -26 March 2002. 



19 



