Analysis of First Year Ice Surface Ocean Current and Ice Floe Drift Speed and Motion Offshore Newfoundland and Labrador from Satellite-Tracked Buoys During the 2015 Ice Season

This paper presents an analysis of the dynamics of ice, current, and wind based on the data collected on land-fast ice and ice floes from the offshore environment of Newfoundland and Labrador during April-August 2015 using satellite-tracked beacons. The beacons were deployed in three sets of three as follows: fast ice beacons (FIB) 2, 3, and 5 were deployed in a triangular array on the land-fast ice offshore Makkovik; fast ice beacons (FIB) 1, 4, and 6 were deployed in a triangular array on the landfast ice offshore Nain, and ice floe beacons (IFB) 7590, 1590, and 0650 were deployed on drifting ice floes offshore Makkovik. Ten ocean drifter beacons were deployed on May 22, 2015 in open water in the vicinity of ice floe beacons 1590 and 0650 to study the characteristics of surface ocean current dynamics. The drift velocities of the two ice floes have been compared with the wind velocities measured by the two weather stations deployed on the ice floes. The buoy drift rose and exceedance probability plots have been presented to analyze the dynamical characteristics of first year ice and ice floes in the offshore Labrador ice environment.