During the 1952 season NIK sent or received 3,210 radio messages 

 and 12,770 landline messages. A tabulation of reports received for the 

 entire season is as follows: 



Total number of ships sending reports 302 



Number of ice reports 118 



Total number of ships sending ice reports 60 



Number of water temperatures 2, 285 



Total number of ships sending water temperatures 214 



TotAl number of ships requesting special reports 84 



Total number of weather reports relayed to observer, 



Washington ^^ 



Thirtv-seven percent of the reports received came from United 

 States vessels, and 25 percent from British vessels, with the remaming 

 38 percent divided between 19 other nationalities. 



ICE CONDITIONS 1952 

 JANUARY 



The first ice report for the 1952 season was received from the 

 United States Coast Guard Air Detachment, Argentia, Newfound- 

 land. On 17 January, dm-ing a routine flight from Argentia to 

 Battle Harbor, Labrador, pack ice was sighted on either side of the 

 track. On 21 January the U. S. C. G. Cutter Matagorda reported 

 rmming through drift ice and open pack between 52°00' N. and 

 53°00' N. at 53°00' W. On 30 January another flight from the 

 Coast Guard Air Detachment, Argentia, to Battle Harbor, pa- 

 trolled to the east of their normal track and observed the southern 

 and eastern limits of the pack ice to extend on an approximate Ime 

 from Cape Freels, Newfoundland, to 50°00' N., 52°00' W., and thence 

 northerly. On this flight nine bergs and two growlers were sighted 

 between 51°00' N., and 52°20' N., from the mainland of Newfound- 

 land east to 52°00' W. On 31 January, at the request of Commander, 

 International Ice Patrol, the Coast Guard Air Detachment, Argentia 

 made a preseason aerial reconnaissance flight over the central and 

 northern portion of the Grand Banks and found scattered drift ice 

 along an hregular line from 50°00' N., 52°00' W., to 49°03' N., 

 51°45' W., and thence westerly. 



No kno;NTi icebergs came south of 48°00' N. durmg January. 

 Limits of pack ice for the month appear to be about average as 

 compared with those limits sho^vn in the Ice Atlas of the Northern 



Hemisphere. 



^ FEBRUARY 



On the 1st day of the month a PBY from the Coast Guard Air 

 Detachment, Argentia, made another preseason ice reconnaissance 

 flight covering the southeastern and eastern slopes of the Grand 

 Banks and found no ice. On February 8, the U. S. C. G. Cutter 

 Absecon reported running through fields of open ^^^ ^^^f^ P^^f ,lf 

 along a line extending approximately from 50 00 N., 51 OU >> ., 



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