portant, Barnes (1073) stated that although 

 larger icebergs could be seen, it was difficult to 

 distinguish them from ice floes. 



Late November 1972, Commander, Interna 

 tional Ice Patrol submitted with Dr. Albert 

 Rango, Hydrologist of the Earth Survey Sciences 

 Office, a research proposal to NASA for analysis 

 of data from ERTS-B. Dr. Rango's investiga- 

 tion (1973) dealt with the satellite capabilities 

 for locating Arctic icebergs for possible use in 

 supplementing fresh water supplies in coast areas. 

 Naturally, Commander, International Ice Patrol 

 was interested in utilizing the satellite to locate, 

 identify, and categorize the icebergs as to size in 

 an attempt to predict the severity of the ice sea- 

 sons, follow the drift of the bergs, and monitor 

 them while they were present on the Grand 

 Banks. This imagery was only expected to sup- 

 plement, not replace, current ice reconnaissance 

 methods. 



In his proposal Rango (1973) stated that MSS 

 bands 5 and 7 would be most useful in detecting 

 differences that might have been relatively subtle. 

 Band 5 would show the best contrast between ice 

 and water, and Band 7 would distinguish be- 

 tween solid ice and ice with melt water on the 

 surface or mixtures of ice and water. The report 

 envisioned classifying icebergs greater than 100 

 meters in length (or surface areas greater than 

 .01km 2 ). The following table appeared in the 

 proposal, and summarizes what the investigators 

 expected to be able to see with ERTS-B. 



Table 1. — Description of icebergs according 

 to length and type 



Size (except tabular type) 



Length (meters) 



Growler* 

 Bergy Bit* 

 Small Iceberg** 

 Medium Iceberg 

 Large Iceberg 

 Very Large Iceberg 



Size of tabular type 

 Small** 

 Medium 

 Large 



<6 



6—15 



15—61 



61—122 



122—213 



>213 



<91 

 91—213 

 >213 



* will not be observable from ERTS-B 

 ** will probably not be observable from ERTS-B 



In July 1974, Dr. Rango's proposal was not 

 accepted by NASA. 



ERTS-A was not designed for oceanographic 

 use, but primarily for earth surface applications. 

 This has tended to limit the quantity and quality 

 of significant results within the oceanographic 

 discipline. ERTS-A is best suited for land and 

 near coastal utilization. 



Ice Patrol received third generation photo 

 graphic products. The generation number as- 

 signed to photographic products is referenced to 

 the initial output from the video tapes. This 

 output is first generation, each successive photo- 

 graphic product generated adds one generation. 

 Some resolution is lost with each generation. 



For the time frame 15 January 1973 to 31 

 August 1973 in the area bounded by 40°N, 52°N, 

 40°W, and 57°W, there are 420 ERTS scenes. 

 Likewise, for 1 March 1974 to 15 August 1974, 

 for the same area, there are 478 scenes. The 

 imagery was viewed, with the attempt of locating 

 icebergs, not sea ice, and comparing with known 

 berg locations. All four bands were viewed in 

 many of the scenes. Band 7 seemed to provide 

 the best contrast between the water and an object. 



No icebergs were observed. Some of the ice 

 floes may have been icebergs, but without ground 

 truth to verify, there was no way of stating such 

 with any certainty. 



One glaring fact which emerged during the 

 imagery viewing was the number of scenes prac- 

 tically useless due to cloud cover. Thus, the Ice 

 Patrol problem of weather affects another remote 

 sensing venture. The following is a breakdown 

 of the cloud cover on the imagery : 



Total percent of scenes 

 Percent of Cloud Cover 1973 1911, 



100 25 29 



90 or more 39 51 



80 or more 48 60 



70 or more 55 68 



60 or more 60 74 



50 or more 65 78 



The vast majority of the scenes viewed were 

 those with less than 50% cloud coverage. 



28 



