was attacked by looking throuoh the records of past years and deter- 

 mining the region wherein field ice and icebergs had most frequently 

 been reported. Having done this the immensity of the problem at 

 once became apparent. The area about the Grand Banks within 

 which bergs are frequently reported extends from latitude 40° 30' N. 

 to latitude 49° N. and from longitude 43° W. to longitude 54° W. 

 Deducting from this the land areas of Newfoundland, certain areas 

 of warm and therefore almost iceless water in the southeastern cor- 

 ner and the central portion of the Grand Banks (which has little 

 trans-Atlantic traffic and no sustained current system carrying ice 

 across it), we have remaining an area of approximately 150,000 

 square geographical miles likely to contain bergs ; and field ice as well, 

 in the northern portions. It is manifestly impossible for a single 

 vessel to obtain any very useful idea of ice conditions throughout so 

 large an area. Therefore the Patrol concentrates its efforts along 

 the eastern and southern slopes of the Grand Banks, i. e., where the 

 ice most seriously threatens shipping. Ice conditions in other parts 

 of the region are learned from reports of other vessels by radio. The 

 problem of the dissemination of vital ice information to the vessels 

 passing through the Ice Patrol area seems adequately taken care of 

 by the use of wireless telegraphy. It is this modern tool which makes 

 it possible to operate an effective patrol. 



The scientific investigations have been chiefly oceanographical and 

 meteorological. Other lines of research wdiich might conceivably aid 

 in the solution are bird life distribution and studies of the distribution 

 of fish and marine life in general. Many of the early investigations 

 may seem far afield from the major problems of delineating the limit- 

 ing lines of the ice and of foretelling the drift of the icebergs. But as 

 it was early realized that ocean currents were the controlling factor in 

 the movement of the icebergs, all these diversified studies were pur- 

 sued in the hope of finding some indicator which would reveal the 

 details of the complicated current system around the tail of the Grand 

 Banks. Some such indicator was necessarj' because the technique had 

 not yet been developed allowing the' construction of current maps at 

 sea. Marine bird life and plankton distribution were investigated in 

 the hope that one or both of these might show, either by their scarcity, 

 abundance, or character, the presence of the Arctic, berg-bearing water. 

 Xo pertinent results were obtained from this work, so it w^as discon- 

 tinued. It was attempted to find the changing current system by 

 means of current meters. Various types were used, but all were use- 

 less except when the patrol vessel was in shoal water and could be 

 anchored. The results gave excellent information about the circula- 

 tion on the Grand Banks but no clue to the major ocean movements 

 in the deep water, and so this line of investigation was dropped. 



