FOREWORD 



This is a report of the work of the International Ice Patrol during 

 the 1950 season. Annual reports such as this have been published 

 since 1913 with the exception of the years 1917, 1918, 1942, 1943, 



1944, and 1945 in which years no international patrol was conducted. 

 As mentioned in previous bulletins of this series, the reports form the 

 continuing story of the history and development of the ice patrol 

 service. No single report by itself attempts to settle all the problems 

 and controversies associated with ice patrol but different bulletins 

 have attempted to present and solve one or two problems each 3*ear. 

 To fuUy understand the history and problems of the ice patrol, the 

 reader is referred to the pre\ious bulletins of this series. 



Early in the history" of the ice patrol the problems of locating ice 

 and disseminating the necessary information were solved. However, 

 the advent of new inventions and new techniques have greath' im- 

 proved the efficiency of the ice patrol. The inauguration of dynamic 

 oceanographic studies in the 1920's was a great step forward and sub- 

 sequent work in this field during the ice-patrol seasons has continu- 

 ousl}" added to the efficiency of the patrol. At the end of the war in 



1945, radar and the long-range airplane were sufficiently well developed 

 to be used for ice patrol purposes and have been so used every season 

 since then. Thus there has been a continuing effort through the 

 years to study the problems affecting ice patrol and to apply the 

 solutions to actual practice. 



That part of the report entitled "Physical Oceanography of the 

 Grand Banks Region and the Laborador Sea in 1950" was prepa^'ed 

 by Floyd M. Soule, Oceanographer, and that part dealing with the 

 activities of the patrol other than oceanography was prepared by 

 Lt. Leroy A. Cheney, USCG. 



(VII) 



