INTERNATIONAL ICE PATROL-1967 



The International Ice Patrol Service for 1967 

 was carried out by the U. S. Coast Guard in 

 accordance with the provisions of the Interna- 

 tional Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 

 1960 and the United States Code, Title 46, Sec- 

 tions 738, 738a through 738d. The mission of 

 protecting shipping was accomplished by the 

 collection of ice information from all available 

 sources and by means of twice daily radio 

 broadcasts and daily facsimile broadcasts dis- 

 seminating to shipping the description of cur- 

 rent ice conditions. 



The Commander, International Ice Patrol 

 had the following facilities available to him 

 during the ice season: a staff of three officers 

 and sixteen enlisted men; radio and landline 

 communications of Coast Guard Radio Station 

 NIK; Hercules HC-130B reconnaissance air- 

 craft support provided by the U. S. Coast Guard 

 Air Station, Elizabeth City, North Carolina; a 

 surface patrol vessel, the U.S.C.G.C. Acush- 

 net; and an oceanographic survey vessel, the 

 U.S.C.G.C. Evergreen. The distribution of ice 

 made it unnecessary to utilize a surface patrol 

 vessel for the eighth consecutive year. 



This was the first year that the Commander, 

 International Ice Patrol, also the Commander, 

 Eastern Area was permanently stationed at 

 New York, New York. Operation of the Ice 

 Patrol was accomplished by deployment of ice 

 observation forces to Argentia, Newfoundland 

 prior to the commencement of the ice season. 



Ice Patrol forces deployed to Argentia on 20 

 February 1967. Included were aircraft and 

 crews, ice observers, and support personnel. 

 The Ice Observer's Office, Argentia, Newfound- 

 land was established, new communication links 

 with the Commander, International Ice Pa- 

 trol, Governor's Island, New York were tested 

 and put into use, and pre-season flights were 

 initiated. The International Ice Patrol Radio 

 Station (NIK) was manned with additional 

 personnel and readied for the forthcoming sea- 

 son. 



Control of the Ice Patrol remained with its 

 Commander at Governor's Island. There, the 

 Ice Patrol staff directed all flights, received all 

 ice observations and reports, maintained all ice 

 plots, prepared the ice broadcasts, and based on 

 meteorological and oceanographic data, fore- 

 cast ice conditions. Periodically throughout the 

 season, the Ice Patrol Officer deployed to Ar- 

 gentia for first hand observation of the existing 

 ice conditions. 



Pre-season aerial ice reconnaissance indi- 

 cated a light ice season but as the season pro- 

 gressed favorable wind and current conditions 

 drifted many more bergs south of 48°N. than 

 were expected. Figures 2 through 18 illusti'ate 

 the development of the extension of ice onto 

 the Grand Banks. On 16 March, the first ice 

 was observed on the Grand Banks. The first of 

 fifty-seven ice observation flights was flown 

 on 25 February 1967. Radio broadcast of the 

 twice daily ice broadcasts to shipping was com- 

 menced at 1248 G.M.T.. 10 March 1967. 



The radio broadcasts were also sent via land- 

 line to the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office, 

 the Canadian Department of Transport, R.C.N. 

 Radio Station Albro Lake, and others for fur- 

 ther dissemination. 



The sources of ice information during the 

 Ice Patrol season were the ice observation 

 flights made by International Ice Patrol air- 

 craft, reports made by commercial and mili- 

 tary vessels and aircraft, ice reconnaissance 

 flights by the Canadian Department of Trans- 

 port in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Newfound- 

 land coastal waters, by the Danish Commander- 

 in-Chief, Greenland for Greenland waters and 

 other contributors. Merchant ship reports on 

 weather and ice conditions were an extremely 

 important source of information. 



The operation of the Ice Patrol from Septem- 

 ber 1966 to August 1967 can be summarized as 

 follows: 



1. Three Ice Patrol iceberg census flights 

 were flown for the purpose of assessing the 



