

 13-Feb 



4-Apr 24-May 13-Jul 



Date 



1-Sep 



21 -Oct 



Figure 4. 1984 LAKI Area 



Another example of the differences between the NSSI and iceberg count is the difference between the 

 ranking of the years in 1997 and 1998 (Table 2). In 1998. the season had almost half of the average LAKI 

 area of 1997. This made a large impact on the season severity, but was countered by the higher number of 

 icebergs in the 1998 season as compared to 1997. By NSSI. they had very similar values. 3.83 and 3.7 1 . 

 respectively. By iceberg count alone. 1998 would have been considered to be a much more severe season 

 than 1997 because it had over 30% more icebergs south of 48° N. 



Table 2: 1998 and 1997 comparison 



NSSI Parameters 



The parameters for the NSSI were created using a stem and leaf plot to find the 25"\ median. 75"'. and 90* 

 percentiles for each variable in the NSSI. The values (Table 3) provided grounds to calculate the various 

 levels of season severity. Below the 25"' percentile is used for a light season. Moderate is from the 25" to 

 the 75"' percentile, a heavy season is 75"' to 90"' percentiles and an extreme season is over the 90"' 

 percentile. 



Table 3. 1975-2001 Iceberg Percentiles 



By entering the percentile variables into the Season Severity Index, the ratings given can be used to define 

 an accurate severity to each year (Table 4). By using the averages of the data for each variable, the normal 

 season severity was found to have an NSSI rating of 3.00 where the median had an NSSI rating of 2.69 

 showing a slight right skew in the data. This skew is due to a large quantity of data on the lower end of the 

 NSSI spectrum. 



60 



