into the Labrador Current on 11 March 

 2002, had a net southward movement of 

 420 nautical miles in the following 16 days. 

 Figure 20 shows the narrow, cold water 

 feature that carried the icebergs and Drifter 

 1 1 831 to 40°N. This image is a composite 

 taken over a five day period earlier in the 

 month. Extensive and persistent 



cloudiness later in the month obscured the 

 sea surface. At the end of March the 

 eastern LAKI remained near the median. 

 During March, an estimated 173 icebergs 

 drifted south of 48°N, well above the 

 month's average of 60. 



-40 



Figure 20. Multi-day (3 to 8 March 2002) Merged 

 Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer data 

 showing a narrow, cold water feature extending from 

 the Tail of the Bank to 40 N. Image provided by the 

 Ocean Remote Sensing Group. Johns Hopkins 

 University Applied Physics Laboratory. 



April 



In east Newfoundland waters, 

 westerly winds continued into April. Air 

 temperatures in Newfoundland and 

 southern Labrador were near normal 



during the month. For most of the month, 

 the north shore of Newfoundland was free 

 of ice, and by mid-month there was a wide 

 lead off the coast of the northern 

 peninsula. In mid-April the southern ice 

 edge was at the latitude of Cape Freels, 

 which is close to its normal position. At 

 50°N the eastern ice edge was about 100 

 nautical miles east of its normal position. It 

 extended to the shelf break, which is also 

 the position of the offshore branch of the 

 Labrador Current. Throughout the 



remainder of the month the winds and 

 currents maintained an elongated band of 

 sea ice in a southeastward direction. 



The mid-April distribution of 

 icebergs was extreme in the south and at 

 the 25^'' percentile in the east. The 

 distribution of icebergs changed little 

 throughout the remainder of the month, 

 and by month's end, the southern extent 

 remained just short of the extreme while 

 the eastern limit was at the 25'^ percentile. 



On April 13, the southernmost 

 iceberg seen during the 2002 ice season 

 was a small iceberg seen by a merchant 

 ship at 40°53.4'N and 50°04.8'W. The 

 southernmost estimated iceberg position 

 for the year was at 39°51 'N and 48°01 .8'W 

 on 2 April 2002. April was Ice Patrol's 

 busiest month in terms of the number of 

 icebergs estimated to have passed south 

 of 48°N, with 316. This is over twice the 

 April monthly average of 1 19 icebergs. 



May 



Offshore winds continued into early 

 May and air temperatures in Newfoundland 

 remained near normal throughout the 

 month. In May the surface water of the 

 northernmost part of the Grand Banks was 

 one degree colder than normal, but in 

 general, the seasonal warming was 

 proceeding at a normal pace. 



20 



