Ice Off Labrador & Newfoundland Lowest In 40 Years - Icebreakers Docked, Only 500 Harp Seals Seen

[hatrack]

A Canadian Coast Guard official said Monday that many parts of the ocean near Newfoundland and Labrador are devoid of pack ice — a condition that hasn't been seen in at least 40 years. "It's been an unusual year this year, to the point that there is no ice. There have been high temperatures, high winds, and as a result we have very little ice," said Dan Frampton, the Coast Guard's supervisor of ice operations. "By this time of year, pack ice is usually down to the St. John's area."

Frampton said icebreakers have been idle because there's no pack ice in the Strait of Belle Isle between Newfoundland's Northern Peninsula and southern Labrador, as well as in the Gulf of St. Lawrence or further north off central Labrador.

"Our data says we haven't seen a year like this since 1969 but when I took a closer look at it, it looks like this year there is actually less ice than 1969," he said." The northeast coast is wide open." Frampton says pack ice usually forms during January and February. He said even if temperatures drop in March it's unlikely that ice conditions will change significantly this year.

It could be a problem for harp seals that give birth to pups on the ice. In the Gulf of St. Lawrence their population can swell to a million but with next to no ice this year only 500 seals have been counted so far. Heli-tour operators have already cancelled the season and sealers fear their hunt won't happen.

EDIT

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2010/03/01/nl-pack-ice-301.html

[OnlinePoker]

1. A lot of the missing sea ice this year is in this region.

Looking at the February NSIDC report, there are over 1 million sq kilometres of missing ice right now, most of it in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. There have been above average temperature anomalies over Labrador for most of the winter due to the negative arctic oscillation, and this slowed ice build up in Hudson's Bay, the Gulf, and on the east coast. Had the temperatures here been normal, ice extent would probably have been closer to average than it has been in years.

http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/

[Viking12]

2. Huh?

Had the temperatures here been normal, ice extent would probably have been closer to average than it has been in years. :wtf:

and if your aunt had a penis, she'd be your uncle.

[OnlinePoker]

3. I meant overall arctic ice extent would have been normal

This much higher temperature was localized over Labrador. Most of the rest of the Arctic, though with somewhat higher temperatures still had near normal freeze-up and in some cases larger than normal ice extent. It will be interesting to watch the thaw when it starts later this month to see how the limited east coast ice affects the melting in the Arctic basin. Normally it clears off more rapidly in the Western Arctic than the Eastern. I'm wanting to see if the pattern reverses due to this poor east coast ice pack.