ABSTRACT 



The major features of the 1951 season were: (1) The early 

 recession of the southern limits and destruction of field ice due 

 chiefly to easterly gales, and (2) the unusual lack of icebergs. A 

 total of six bergs is estimated to have drifted south of the 48th 

 parallel (50-year average is 433 bergs annually) ; three drifted 

 south of 47° 00' N., and none were observed to cross south of lati- 

 tude 46°00' N. Although records indicate that in the years 1940 

 and 1941 only two bergs were reported south of latitude 48° 00' N., 

 the services of ice patrol for these years were conducted with re- 

 duced forces and without the benefit of aerial ice observation, and 

 it is conceivable that both of these years were more productive 

 than the data indicated. In 1951, aerial searches were conducted 

 as far north as latitude 60°00' N. The sparsity of bergs was excep- 

 tional. Because of the lag of about three years between the pro- 

 duction of bergs and their journey to the Grand Banks area and 

 the lack of any post-season ice observation census in Baffin Bay 

 since 1949, it is difficult to speculate what forces were responsible 

 for the absence of ice. 



[IV) 



