No icebergs passed south of 48°N 

 during July. Tlie average for the month is 

 31 . Ice Patrol's last 2002 reconnaissance 

 patrol returned from Newfoundland on 10 

 July. The season closed on 15 July with 

 the southern LAKI at the minimum and the 

 eastern limit at the 75'^ percentile due to 

 two isolated, small icebergs in the northern 

 part of Flemish Pass. 



The last of the sea ice departed the 

 coast of Labrador in early August, one to 

 two weeks behind normal. 



Summary 



With 877 icebergs estimated to have 

 passed south of 48°N, the 2002 season 

 falls into the extreme category (>600 

 icebergs) as defined by Trivers (1994). On 

 the other hand, the 151 day season length 

 places 2002 into the average classification 

 (105 to 180 days). However, neither of 

 these two measurements captures the 

 dominant characteristic of the 2002 iceberg 

 season, the extraordinarily wide distribution 

 of the 877 icebergs. During the second 

 half of March, there was a dramatic 

 southward movement of the LAKI, which 

 then hovered near the climatologically 

 extreme position from late March through 

 June. For a brief period during the end of 

 March and early April, the southern LAKI 

 was south of 40°N. Two factors combined 

 to cause the extreme southward LAKI 

 position. The first was an unusually strong 

 flow in the offshore branch of the Labrador 

 Current that was delivering icebergs from 

 Flemish Pass to the vicinity of the Tail of 

 the Bank, a distance of about 300 nautical 

 miles, in less than two weeks. The second 

 was the complex shape of the NAC 

 southeast of the Tail of the Bank that 

 permitted the development of a narrow, 

 cold water jet between two meanders of 

 the NAC. For most of the season the 

 eastern LAKI was farther east than normal, 



and during part of June was near the 

 eastern extreme. From the standpoint of 

 the transatlantic mariner, the 2002 iceberg 

 season was severe due to the vast extent 

 of the iceberg danger area. 



Icebergs arrived at 48^N in early to 

 mid-February, as predicted by Desjardins 

 (2001), but early season signals suggested 

 2002 would be a light to average iceberg 

 season. Though limited in scope, the 

 January and early February aerial 

 reconnaissance showed a sparse iceberg 

 population along the Labrador Coast in 

 position to move into the shipping lanes 

 during the early part of the season. The 

 winter (December 2001 through March 

 2002) North Atlantic Oscillation Index 

 (NAOI) was 0.76 (Hurrell, 2003), which is 

 slightly positive, but not as strong as the 

 2.8 winter NAOI for the 2000 season (843 

 icebergs). Finally, the February iceberg 

 count was near normal. By the end of 

 March, however, it was clear that 2002 

 would be a very active iceberg season. 



The spatial extent of sea ice in east 

 Newfoundland waters was less than 

 normal in 2002. CIS (2002) calculates the 

 Total Accumulated Ice Coverage for east 

 Newfoundland waters, which is the ocean 

 area covered by sea ice summed for all the 

 weeks of the season. The 2002 ice 

 season was the seventh lowest in the 34 

 year history (1969 to 2002). The CIS 

 predictions for the development of the 

 2001/2002 ice season were generally 

 accurate. There was a later than normal 

 arrival of sea ice in east Newfoundland 

 waters. Sea ice reached the vicinity of 

 Cape Bonavista in early February. The 

 sea ice attained its maximum extent in mid- 

 March, with the ice edge approximately at 

 the latitude of St. John's. The retreat of the 

 southern ice edge in the spring was slower 

 than predicted by about two weeks. 



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