Research Document 1998/51

Overview of meteorological and sea ice conditions off Eastern Canada during 1997

By K.F. Drinkwater, R. Pettipas, and L. Petrie

Abstract

A review of meteorological and sea ice conditions off eastern Canada during 1997 is presented. Air temperatures throughout the northwest Atlantic generally cooled relative to 1996. In the Labrador Sea area, temperatures still remained much warmer than the minima in the early 1990s. On the southern Labrador coast and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence they were near normal while along the Atlantic coast from St. John's to Cape Hatteras annual air temperatures were below normal. From the Gulf of St. Lawrence north, temperatures went from extremely warm during the first part of the winter to very cold in the latter half. The NAO index for 1997 was below normal for the second consecutive year but above that recorded in 1996. Although the sea ice on the southern Labrador and Newfoundland shelves generally appeared late and left early resulting in a shorter duration than usual, the areal extent in 1997 was greater than in 1996. In addition, the number of icebergs reaching the Grand Banks increased over 1996 by over 60% but still remained well below the large number of icebergs reported in the early 1990s. In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the ice typically appeared late but remained longer than expected. While the ice also lasted longer than normal on the Scotian Shelf and seaward of Cabot Strait, its areal coverage was lower than normal.

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