ICE OBSERVATION 



Edward H. Smith 



When the patrol ship, on her first approach to the ice regions, had 

 arrived in the vicinity of the Grand Bank, a request was dispatched 

 to the Canadian Government Radio Station at Cape Race (VAZ) 

 for a summary of the state of the ice up to date. A detailed reply 

 was received giving the position and character of all the ice that had 

 been reported by passing ships, and this is incorporated in the bulletin 

 for this year, heading the list of ice as contained in Table of ice and 

 other obstructions, 1926 (p. 21). The number of bergs south of the 

 forty-eighth parallel is also recorded by months in the table of ice- 

 berg anomalies, 1906-1926 (p. 76). The monthly number has been 

 determined by a compilation of all ice reported by passing ships, 

 as well as that sighted by the patrol, care being taken to avoid listing 

 a berg in this area more than once during any one month. 



JANUARY 



No ice was reported in the western North Atlantic to the best of 

 our knowledge during January. A normal January reports three 

 bergs south of Newfoundland. 



FEBRUARY 



The first ice report was reported to Cape Race on February 8 (see 

 Table of ice and other obstructions, p. 21), this being slush ice en- 

 countered by a ship on the extreme northern part of the Grand Bank 

 near the 100-fathom curve. Eleven other reports were received at 

 various dates throughout the month, all referring to Arctic field ice 

 on the northeastern part of the Bank, except for one report of several 

 small bergs just south of the forty-eighth parallel on February 20. 

 No doubt these were the remains of one or two large bergs, which had 

 survived the summer of 1925, and, being caught in the fields, were 

 naturally the first of the glacial ice to put in an appearance in 1926. 

 It seems reasonable to conclude that only three bergs came south of 

 the forty-eighth parallel during the month of February. Normal 

 conditions would be 12 bergs during February. 



MARCH 



Thirty-eight reports were received and distributed throughout the 

 month, of ice in the western North Atlantic south of the forty-eighth 

 parallel. Nearly all of these referred to Arctic field ice or to growlers; 



(53) 



