FOREWORD 



This is Bulletin No. 38 in a series of bulletins which describe the 

 work of the International Service of Ice Observation and Ice Patrol in 

 the North Atlantic Ocean. This report relates the details of the 1952 

 ice season. 



Under the authority of the United States Law and the International 

 Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, the United States Coast 

 Guard conducts "International Ice Observation and Ice Patrol Service 

 in the North Atlantic Ocean." The primary objective of this service 

 is to determine the location of ice formations that are or may be a 

 menace to ocean navigation and to disseminate this information to all 

 commercial shipping and interested agencies. The ice formations 

 are located by utilizing the forces assigned and by receiving reports 

 from merchant vessels and commercial and military aircraft. The 

 term "Ice Patrol" is used to describe the activities of the planes and 

 ships when the threat to shipping requires a continuous guarding of 

 the limits of the ice encumbered region by a surface vessel. The term 

 "ice observation" is used to describe the operation when ice conditions 

 are such as to require only intermittent observation by vessels or 

 aircraft, primarily the latter. 



In order to further the primary objective of this service, oceano- 

 graphic surveys of the ice areas are made each spring. The current 

 charts and other information so evolved make possible the prediction 

 of the movement of ice, thus materially adding to the efficiency of the 

 patrol services. In addition, oceanographic surveys of the Labrador 

 Sea and Davis Strait areas are usually made during July of each year, 

 adding further knowledge of the factors involved in the production and 

 transportation of ice to the areas heavily traveled by shipping. 



The icebergs which hinder the navigator in the North Atlantic are 

 produced mainly by the glaciers of northwestern Greenland. These 

 bergs are carried southward by the Baffinland and Labrador Currents, 

 and some eventually reach the Tail of the Grand Banks, where the 

 Labrador Current and Gulf Stream meet. This is the area of greatest 

 danger to mariners since most of the transatlantic shipping lanes pass 

 through this region. 



Author of the section of this bulletin dealing with oceanography 

 was U. S. Coast Guard Oceanographer Floyd M. Soule. Other 

 sections of the report were done by Lt. P. S. Branson, United States 

 Coast Guard. 



(VII) 



