Jane Adey · CBC News · Posted: Feb 25, 2023 5:30 AM EST

Spring is on the horizon in Newfoundland and Labrador, and you can be sure many tourists and tourism operators have their fingers crossed for icebergs this year.

"When I see people's reactions and everybody so happy … I've got to say, I love it.," said Chris Scott, who operates Twillingate Adventure Tours.

He says there's no feeling like showing an iceberg to someone who's never seen one before.

However, there have been very few icebergs off the coast in recent years.

Temperatures are rising, and that means northern ice is melting faster.

Frederic Cyr, a Fisheries and Oceans Canada oceanographer in Newfoundland and Labrador, monitors icebergs as part of his work.

Cyr says researchers have been counting icebergs since the time of the Titanic, when that most famous iceberg brought down the luxury liner in 1912.

The International Ice Patrol is operated by the U.S. coast guard and funded by 13 countries, including Canada.

The patrol conducts aerial surveys and counts the number of bergs that cross a virtual line at 48 degrees north.

"In a normal year there would be between 700 and 800 icebergs … but it varies a lot," he said.

"For example, some years I'm thinking of 2019, there was more than 1,500. In 2021, there was only one … and this could be due to climate change, for example," said Cyr.

Cyr says seeing icebergs in the future could become a much rarer event than in the past.

"What we would probably see is the number of years where there's very few, or none at all, could increase. It doesn't mean that, from one day to the next there will be no more icebergs," said Cyr.

"But I think the frequency of years with very few icebergs will become permanent any time soon," said Cyr.

2023年2月25日上午5:30（东部标准时间），CBC新闻的Jane Adey报道：

未来将会有更少的冰山。游客们正在尽情珍惜它们

春天即将来临，纽芬兰和拉布拉多省的许多游客和旅游运营商都对今年的冰山形势充满期待。

Twillingate Adventure Tours的运营商Chris Scott说：“当我看到人们的反应和大家都那么开心...我必须说，我喜欢这个感觉。”他表示，向从未见过冰山的人展示冰山是一种无与伦比的感觉。

然而，近年来，沿海地区的冰山非常少。

温度上升意味着北部的冰融化更快。

作为加拿大纽芬兰和拉布拉多省的一名渔业和海洋专家，Frederic Cyr负责监测冰山。

Cyr表示，研究人员从泰坦尼克号时代开始就一直在计算冰山的数量，当时最著名的冰山在1912年击沉了这艘豪华客轮。

国际冰山巡逻队由美国海岸警卫队运营，并得到包括加拿大在内的13个国家的资助。

该巡逻队进行空中勘测，统计那些越过北纬48度的冰山数量。

他说：“正常年份会有700到800个冰山...但数量差异很大。”

Cyr说：“例如，我想到2019年，那一年超过1500个冰山。而在2021年，只有一个...这可能是由于气候变化等原因。”

Cyr表示，将来看到冰山可能会比过去更加罕见。

他说：“我们可能会看到很少或根本没有冰山的年份增加。这并不意味着从一天到另一天就没有冰山了。”

但是他说：“我认为很快将会是极少有冰山的年份的频率会变得更加常态化。”