the season. These charts are valuable to the ice patrol, for they in- 

 dicated the general features of the Labrador and the Atlantic Cur- 

 rents, in the important area where they meet near the Tail of the 

 Grand Banks. Trends in the ever changing currents and their 

 branches can be spotted quickly from sea water temperature reports. 

 The weather reports, particularly the visibility and the wind direc- 

 tion and force, are extremely useful to Commander, International 

 Ice Patrol in planning ice observation flights. The isotherm charts 

 for the 1953 season are shown in figures 2 to 6 inclusive. Although 

 flights are usuallj^ planned a day in advance on the basis of weather 

 forecasts by the United States Navy Fleet Weather Central, Argentia, 

 all ship weather reports in the vicinity of the planned flight area are 

 carefully scrutinized, especially the morning of a flight. As a result, 

 flight plans have been advantageously altered on the basis of these 

 valuable weather reports. Also, in forecasting berg drift, the wind 

 du'ection and force as well as the surface ocean currents must be 

 known. Finally, but most important of all, the regular reports every 

 4 hom's from ships include position, course, and speed and are an im- 

 portant aid to Commander, International Ice Patrol in performing 

 his duty to protect shipping from the danger of ice. The Ice Patrol 

 Office maintains a plot of all reporting ships, and so can warn individual 

 vessels, directly, of the presence of ice in or near their tracks. Thus 

 the reporting ship receives the maximum protection from ice and the 

 ice patrol receives valuable information not otherwise available. 



During the 1953 season NIK sent or received 5,510 radio messages 

 and 12,179 landline messages. A tabulation of reports received for 

 the entire season is as follows: 



Total number of ships sending reports 401 



Number of ice reports 244 



Total number of ships sending ice reports 119 



Nimiber of water temperatures 4, 438 



Total number of ships sending water temperatures 335 



Total number of ships requesting special reports 56 



Total number of weather reports relayed to Observer, Wash_ 620 



The following is a list of the percentage distribution of reporting 

 vessels by nationality. A total of 24 nations are represented: 



Percent 



Great Britain 27. 



United States » 27. 



Norway 8. 5 



Netherlands 7. 8 



Germany 4. 8 



Italy 4. 5 



Sweden 4. 5 



Canada 3. 2 



France 2. 8 



Panama 2. 5 



Other (14 nations). -.. 7. 4 



' Includes 45 percent military. 



9 



