Investigating the marginal ice zone on the Newfoundland Shelf

From the ice and current data collected over the Newfoundland Shelf by the second Canadian Atlantic Storms Program (CASP II), it is evident that ice motion is affected by wind-generated ocean current. This points to the importance of coupled ice-ocean response to wind forcing in the study of shortterm ice motion and operational ice forecasting. The mutual influence of ice and the ocean can also be seen in the water properties. To study the mature stages of explosive cyclogenesis in east coast winter storms and to investigate their influence on the circulation and sea ice properties on the Newfoundland continental shelf and Grand Banks, CASP II was conducted by scientists from the Bedford Institute of Oceanography (BIO), the Atmospheric Environment Service (AES), the National Research Council (NRC), and many universities, private companies, and other government agencies.