18 



ICE OBSERVATION 



The first berg sighted on the northern oceanographic cruise was 

 located at 50° 40' north, 55° 10' west, about 60 miles south of the 

 Strait of Belle Isle. Some 30 bergs were sighted close to the coast 

 between this position and Domino Run, Labrador. Four bergs 

 were reported from the vicinity of 53° 00' north, 51° 00' west, between 

 July 4 and 8, 1931. During the same time the traffic on the Belle 

 Isle tracks reported about 40 different bergs (which could not be 

 sighted from the General Greene) from 52° 30' north, 53° 30' west to 

 51° 30' north, 56° 30' west. 



Sixty bergs were sighted between Domino Run and Port Burwell, 

 Labrador. Only one of these was more than 65 miles from the coast. 

 No field ice whatever was sighted off Labrador. The people at 

 Spotted Island Harbor stated that they had had a very mild and open 

 winter. There had been very little field ice along the coast and the 

 bays had remained practically unfrozen . The scarcity of bergs about 

 the Grand Banks during the spring of 1931 can probably be attributed 

 to the openness of the preceding winter. The bergs must have 

 grounded along the Labrador coast instead of drifting farther south. 

 They were probably melted there by the mild weather caused by 

 prevailing on-shore winds, the melting being hastened by the scarcity 

 of pack ice. 



At Port Burwell, Canadian Labrador, the winter had been more 

 nearly normal, though there had been a couple of long mild spells 

 and pack ice had disappeared unusually early. 



Ice conditions were more nearly normal off Greenland between 

 Ivigtut and Cape Farewell. About 500 bergs and thousands of 

 growlers were seen close to the coast. The growlers for the most 

 part were the melting remnants of pack ice. All this ice was from 

 East Greenland and was moving northwestward. It was, therefore^ 

 of small direct importance to the International Ice Patrol. Had the 

 General Greene visited Ivigtut one month later in the season, as the 

 Marion did in 1928, we would probably have seen no remnants of 

 field ice and comparatively few bergs off South Greenland. 



From correspondence it was learned that at Godhavn, Greenland, 

 the winter of 1930-31 was a normal cold one after three undesirable 

 mild ones. Last winter Disco Bay was frozen over for a long period 

 and the inhabitants of the off -lying islands were not isolated, but 

 could visit the mainland villages at will with dog sledges. 



In considering the number of bergs that were sighted from the 

 General Greene cognizance must be taken of the fact that, due to 

 fog, poor visibility, and our low height of eye on the ship, we really 

 covered but a very small percentage of the enormous area between 

 Newfoundland and Labrador and South Greenland. Undoubtedly 

 many times the number of bergs sighted and reported were in the- 



