Labrador Current

In spring and early summer, the Labrador Current transports icebergs from the glaciers of Greenland southwards into the trans-Atlantic shipping lanes.

The waters of the current have a cooling effect on the Canadian Atlantic provinces, and on the United States' upper northeast coast from Maine south to Massachusetts.

After the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, the International Ice Patrol was set up to track icebergs, including those found in areas of the ocean where they are rarely located.

[1] The Labrador Current has an average annual velocity of 20 cm/s and is formed from very cold water that is around 1.5˚C from the Arctic through Baffin Island, Canada, and Western Greenland.

The Labrador Sea is affected by seasonality and will experience greater freshwater imports during the late spring and early summer with riverine runoff and glacial melt.