INTERNATIONAL ICE PATROL, 1979 



The U.S. Coast Guard conducted the 1979 Inter- 

 national Ice Patrol Service in the North Atlantic 

 Ocean under the provisions of Title 46, U.S. Code, 

 Sections 738, 738a through 738d, and the Interna- 

 tional Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea 

 (SOLAS), 1960, regulations 5-8. During the 1979 

 season, the International Ice Patrol disseminated 

 information to the mariner on the ice conditions in 

 the Grand Banks region of the Northwest Atlantic. 

 To achieve this, the U.S. Coast Guard patrolled the 

 southeastern, southern and southwestern limits of 

 icebergs and maintained a plot on the extent of this 

 dangerous region. 



Commander, Coast Guard Atlantic Area is 

 Commander, International Ice Patrol and directed 

 the 1979 operations from the Ice Patrol Office 

 located at Governors Island, NY. The office 

 analyzed ice and environmental data and prepared 

 the daily ice bulletins and facsimile chart. All Coast 



Guard units deployed on Ice Patrol missions came 

 under the operational control of Commander, 

 International Ice Patrol. Vice Admiral Robert I. 

 Price, U.S. Coast Guard, was Commander, Inter- 

 national Ice Patrol. The Ice Patrol Officer was 

 Commander Jerry C. Bacon, U.S. Coast Guard. 



Preseason reconnaissance flights in January and 

 February 1979 determined the early season 

 iceberg distributions. Based on these flights the 

 season commenced 6 March 1979. From that date 

 until 21 July 1979, an Aerial Ice Reconnaissance 

 Detachment operated from St. John's, 

 Newfoundland averaging a patrol every other day 

 over the Grand Banks. The season officially closed 

 on 22 July 1979. 



During the 1973 season, an estimated 152 

 icebergs drifted south of 48°N. Table 1 shows 

 monthly estimates of bergs that crossed 48 °N. 



Table 1 — ESTIMATED NUMBER OF ICEBERGS SOUTH OF LATITUDE 48N, SEASON 1979 



1979 

 TOTAL 

 1946-1979 

 AVERAGE 

 1946-1979 

 TOTAL 

 1900-1979 

 AVERAGE 

 1900-1979 



SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG TOTAL 



5 20 81 34 9 3 152 



10 2 4 11 64 269 1100 3060 2966 1767 486 100 9839 



2 8 32 90 87 52 14 3 285 



256 109 110 91 184 721 3202 7905 10,049 5285 1682 489 30,083 



3 1 1 1 2 9 40 99 126 66 21 6 377 



