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FOREWORD 



The portion of this report dealing with oceanography was pre- 

 pared by Senior Oceanographer Floyd M. Soule, United States Coast 

 Guard, and the remainder of the report by Lt. G. Van A. Graves, 

 United States Coast Guard, ice observation officer. The Coast Guard 

 Bulletins Nos. 3-5, inclusive, and 7-25, inclusive, deal with the opera- 

 tions of the International Ice Observation and Ice Patrol Service 

 m the North Atlantic since its inception in 1913 to the present time. 

 These reports contain detailed information concerning ice conditions 

 from year to j^ear, ice movements and drift, ocean currents and circu- 

 lation, both surface and subsurface, meteorological data, observa- 

 tion of oceanic bird life with such notes on pelagic flora and fauna 

 as the principal duties of the Patrol would permit. Of special 

 interest are Bulletin No. 14, 1926, A Practical Method of Deter- 

 mining Ocean Currents, by Comdr. Edward H. Smith, United 

 States Coast Guard, and Bulletin No. 19, the Report of the Marion 

 Expedition to Davis Strait in 1928. This expedition was headed by 

 Comdr. Edward H. Smith. Bulletin No. 19, part II, now in print, 

 (Smith, Soule and Mosby, 1936) is a study of the ocean circulation. in 

 the region of the Labrador Sea, Davis Strait, Baffin Bay and the 

 Grand Banks of Newfoundland. Bulletin No. 19, part III, is par- 

 ticularly valuable as an authoritative treatise on sea ice in general, 

 arctic ice and glaciation in Davis Strait, Baffin Bay regions in par- 

 ticular. It gives quantitative and qualitative studies of the sources, 

 disposition, and movements of sea and glacial ice in this little known 

 region of the ocean. 



For the history of the International Ice Observation and Ice Patrol 

 Service, its duties, problems, and methods of operation, the interested 

 reader is referred to previous Ice Patrol bulletins, particularly 

 Bulletin No. 3, 1915, pages 3-6, and pages 38-42; No. 9, 1922, pages 

 3-6 ; No. 13, 1926, pages vi and 1-4 ; No. 16, 192Y, introduction ; No. 

 18, 1930, introduction and pages 83-92; No. 22, 1933, introduction 

 and pages 29 and 30. For the student of oceanography the sections 

 on oceanography contained in all the Ice Patrol reports are especially 

 recommended as an ever-increasing source of data over the entire 

 period of 22 years, 1913 to date, and also for the interesting treatises 

 on oceanography and ocean circulation in the northwestern Atlantic 

 Ocean, written from time to time as a result of the study of these 

 data. 



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