13 



sections devoted to weather and to oceanography. There were 

 approximately 365 bergs south of Newfoundland during the four 

 months March to June but there was the astonishingly meager 

 number of only eight bergs south of the forty-fifth parallel during 

 this same period. The greatest number of bergs around the Tail at 

 any time occurred the first week in April when there were four small 

 ones there, and the patrol kept these under surveillance until they 

 finally melted. The last berg to appear off the Tail did so April 28, 

 and thereafter these waters were clear of ice during May and June. 

 In fact with the exception of a small berg which drifted 10 miles south 

 of the forty-fourth parallel on June 8, there was no ice south of the 

 forty-fifth parallel after April 30. 



The fact that the total number of bergs was slightly above normal, 

 and that the waters south of the forty-fifth parallel remained so 

 free of ice, naturally concentrated the bergs on the northern part 

 of the Bank where as many as 100 to 150 accumulated the first 

 week in June. They disintegrated quite rapidly, however, because 

 when the patrol vessel left, June 25, it was estimated that there 

 were few more than 15 bergs south of Newfoundland. 



The weather during the ice season of 1927 was in general very 

 good. Both the Tampa and the Modoc on their first cruises experi- 

 enced unusually fine weather at a time in early season when cyclonic 

 distui'bances are often numerous and gradients are correspondingly 

 steep. It was recalled that in the early season of 1926 the vessels 

 encountered continual gales for the first month of the patrol. The 

 second feature was the change from wintertime to summertime con- 

 ditions with attending southerly winds, an event which was first 

 noticed May 11, contemporary with the first lonsr spell of fog and low 

 visibility. The usual stagnation in the movement of low-pressure 

 and high-pressure areas, and the flattening out of gradients, was not 

 so apparent this season as it has been in some years. Several times 

 during the month of June, for example, well developed "highs" and 

 "lows" moved across the ice regions with unseasonable velocity. 



Scientific work this year was carried on under the supervision of 

 Lieutenant Commander Smith, who followed the same general poli- 

 cies that were instituted by the ice patrol board in 1926. A discus- 

 sion of the weather, the distribution of the ice, and the scheme of 

 oceanic circulation that prevailed in the ice regions, is carried under 

 the respective sections devoted to weather, ice observation, and ocean- 

 ography. The absence of ice near the steamship lanes in 1927 

 afforded opportunity for more current observations than ever before, 

 and consequently, the patrol ship was able to foresee more clearly 

 than ever in 1927, the developments in the ice situation. Attention 

 is particularly invited to the current map covering the last few weeks 

 72092—27 2 >rtAn!5>\ 



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