Labrador-current meaning

These branches are separated from one another at the surface by currents moving southwards: one passes east of Iceland; the second, the Greenland current, skirts the east coast of Greenland; and the third, the Labrador current already mentioned, follows the western side of Davis Strait.

The Greenland icebergs are carried by the Labrador current across the great banks of Newfoundland, where they are often very numerous in the months from February to August, when they constitute a danger to shipping as far south as 40° N.

One of the indirect methods of investigating currents is by taking account of the initial temperature of the current and following it by the thermometer throughout its course; hence the familiar contrast between warm and cold currents, of which the Gulf Stream and the Labrador current are types.

The Greenland icebergs are carried by the Labrador current across the great banks of Newfoundland, where they are often very numerous in the months from February to August, when they constitute a danger to shipping as far south as 40° N.