Excerpt from Report of the International Ice Patrol in the North Atlantic: 2002 Season

Comparing the 2001-2002 sea iceand iceberg observations to the historical record emphasizes the departures from normal and gives a greater appreciation for the variability of the ice distribution in the western North Atlantic. For sea ice, Sea Ice Climatic Atlas, East Coast of Canada, 1971-2000 (canadian Ice Service, 2001) provides a 30 year median of ice concentration at seven day intervals for the period from November 26 through July 16. Viekman and Baumer (1995) present an iceberg limits climatology from mid-march to July 30 based on 21 years of Ice Patrol observations from 1975 through 1995. They provide the extreme, median, and minimum extent of the Limit of All Known Ice for the period. Finally, the average number of icebergs estimated to have drifted south of 48°n for each month was calculated using 102 years (1900 through 2001) of HP records.

The pre-season sea ice forecast (canadian Ice Service, which was issued in early December, predicted: one week later than normal freeze-up along the Labrador coast and in east Newfoundland waters due to slightly above normal air and sea surface temperatures in the region, movement of the ice edge into the Strait of Belle Isle during the first week of January 2002, sea ice reaching Cape Bonavista during the second week of February, maximum extent of the sea ice attained in mid-march, with the ice edge approximately at the latitude of St. John's for the entire month, and normal retreat of the southern ice edge in the spring.

A series of six cis reconnaissance flights conducted in mid-october documented a population of 825 icebergs from 61°n to 66°n, with the highest concentration north of 62°n (desjardins, Although most of the icebergs were near the Baffin Island coast, more than 100 were offshore. Desjardins (2001) predicted that the first of these would reach 48°n during the month of February 2002.

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