RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT— 1977 



During the 1977 Season, Ice Patrol continued 

 the research and development program on remote 

 sensing to provide an all-weather iceberg detec- 

 tion and identification tool. NASA Lewis Re- 

 search Center provided a solid state Side-Looking 

 Airborne Radar (SLAR), APS-94D model, 

 which was installed in the Coast Guard HC-130B 

 aircraft, CGNR 1351, used primarily on the 

 Great Lakes ICEWARN project. Extensive 

 SLAR data on icebergs and ships were accumu- 

 lated during the season for use in bench testing 

 for the Radar Image Processor (RIP) currently 

 under development by NASA Lewis. The RIP, 

 which shows promise for SLAR target discrimi- 

 nation, will undergo test and evaluation under 

 operational conditions during the 1978 Ice Season. 



The Airborne Oil Surveillance System 

 (AOSS), newly installed in the Coast Guard 

 HC-130B aircraft, CGNR 1347, was also tested 

 during the 1977 Ice Season. This included eval- 

 uation of its APS-94D SLAR, Passive Micro- 

 wave Imager (PMI), and ultraviolet/infrared 

 line scanners. 



Both the AOSS and ICEWARN SLAR sys- 

 tems show good potential for providing the all- 

 weather iceberg detection and identification 

 capability required to conduct effective and ef- 

 ficient surveillance. Development of effective 

 methods for data interpretation through operator 

 expertise and NASA Lewis' RIP should even- 

 tually eliminate the problem of dependence upon 

 visual reconnaissance in Ice Patrol operating 

 areas where fog and low cloud cover are so 

 prevalent. 



Satellite positioning buoys, such as the Buoy 

 Transmit Terminal (BTT) and Air Deploy able 

 Remote Access Measurement System (ADRAMS) 

 type, although barely past the test and evaluation 

 stages themselves, have proven to be invaluable 

 tools to Ice Patrol. The buoys continue to serve 



a variety of uses including location, speed, and 

 direction of ocean currents, tagging of selected 

 icebergs for drift studies, and improved season 

 forecasting and prediction using data from buoys 

 dropped on icebergs in the vicinity of Davis 

 Strait or along the Labrador coast. Two 

 ADRAMS were successfully deployed onto bergs 

 on each side of Davis Strait during the February 

 preseason flight. They functioned well and were 

 tracked for more than four months, using the 

 NIMBUS-6 satellite. The western leg was 

 tracked all the way south to 51 °N. More 

 ADRAMS drops are planned for the 1978 season. 

 The continued use of these buoys will greatly 

 improve Ice Patrol operational effectiveness at 

 relatively minimal cost. 



This season also saw a continuation of the ice- 

 berg drift project. Using the integrating cur- 

 rent drogue developed in 1976, a set of iceberg 

 drift data was collected which included current, 

 wind and iceberg velocities. Three sets of drifts 

 were, conducted, the first lasting 36 hours, the 

 second 48 hours and the third a little over 24 

 hours. 



In June, the test phase for the iceberg tethering 

 dart was completed. This 35 pound anchoring 

 projectile proved capable of penetrating 0.7 

 meters when dropped from 200 feet at 130 knots. 

 It is planned to develop an expendable instru- 

 ment package which will be attached to the 

 tethering dart by means of a buoyant line. Ap- 

 pendix A gives details on this project. 



The first remote sensing satellite devoted to 

 oceanographic monitoring, SEASAT-A, will be 

 launched during 1978. The International Ice 

 Patrol and NASA Lewis have developed a joint 

 plan for ground truthing and evaluation of 

 SEASAT-A data applicable to the Ice Patrol 

 mission. The RIP should be capable of inter- 

 preting the satellite's Synthetic Aperature Radar 



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