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The 1991 IIP year (Oc- 

 tober 1 , 1 990 - September 30, 

 1 991 ) marked the 77th anni- 

 versary of the International Ice 

 Patrol, which was established 

 February 7, 1914. MP's op- 

 erating area is delineated by 

 40°N - 52°N, 39°W - 57°W 

 (Figure 1). 



MP's first aeriailceberg 

 ReconnaissanceDe- 

 tatchment (ICERECDET) of 

 the year departed on Febm- 

 ary 21, and the 1991 IIP sea- 

 son was opened on February 

 23. From this date until Au- 

 gust 23, 1991, an 

 ICERECDET operated from 

 Newfoundland one week out 

 of every two. The season 

 officially closed on August 24, 

 1991. Coast Guard HC-130H 

 aircraft equipped with the AN/ 

 APS-135 Side-Looking Air- 



borne Radar (SLAR) flew 39 

 ice reconnaissance sorties, 

 logging over 246 flight hours, 

 and Coast Guard HU-25B air- 

 craft equipped with the AN/ 

 APS-131 SLAR flew 13 re- 

 connaissance sorties, logging 

 over 35 flight hours. 



WatchstandersatllP's 

 Operations Center in Groton, 

 Connecticut analyzed the ice- 

 berg sighting information from 

 the ICERECDETs, along with 

 sighting information from com- 

 mercial shipping and Atmo- 

 spheric Environment Service 

 (AES) of Canada sea ice/ice- 

 berg reconnaissance flights 

 and other sources. Table 1 

 shows that IIP ICERECDETs 

 and commercial shipping were 

 the major sources of iceberg 

 sighting reports this season. 

 Appendix A lists all iceberg 



sighting reports, including re- 

 ports of radartargets, received 

 from commercial shipping, re- 

 gardless of the sighting loca- 

 tion. In Appendix A, a sighting 

 report may represent several 

 targets. 



As in 1990, AES flew 

 almost no iceberg reconnais- 

 sance flights during 1991 be- 

 cause of a lack of funding. 

 AES did acquire and relay to 

 IIP a minimal amount of ice- 

 berg information obtained dur- 

 ing sea ice reconnaissance 

 flights. Atlantic Airways, the 

 private company which pro- 

 vided aerial reconnaissance 

 for the Canadian Department 

 of Fisheries and Oceans 

 (DFO) and the oil companies 

 operating on the Grand Banks, 

 continued to forward iceberg 

 data acquired during flights to 

 IIP. Unfortunately, though, 

 DFO only conducted a small 

 numberof surveillance flights, 

 and the oil industry did not 

 have any platforms in the IIP 

 area until near the end of the 

 season. 



During 1991, the IIP 

 Operations Center received a 

 total of 4370 sightings within 

 its operations area (40°N - 

 52°N, 39°W - 57°W) and away 

 from the Newfoundland coast 

 which were entered into HP's 

 drift model, compared to 31 56 

 during 1990. Sighting sources 

 and percent of total reports 



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