17 



On the 29th fog patches were once more in evidence and interfered 

 seriously with the search for ice. One berg was sighted at 42° 26' N., 

 50° 12' W. During the afternoon the wind increased to a moderate 

 east-southeast gale, with rain and low visibility. The Modoc was 

 stopped just west of the Tail for the night and remained stopped there 

 throughout the 30th due to fog. 



On July 1 an attempt was made to examine the area over and just 

 south of the Tail, but fog prevailed over the cold water. The fog 

 still persisting at 3 p. m., the attempt to search the area just south 

 of the Banks was given up and search of the warmer southwestern 

 area was commenced. Considerable cruising was done on the 2d, 

 but no bergs were sighted. The Modoc was relieved by the Tampa 

 at 42° 55' N., 52° 19' W., at 12.30 p. m., on July 3. 



During the sixth cruise bergs were reported in considerable num- 

 bers from near the Newfoundland coast in the vicinity of St. Johns. 

 They extended farther southwest past Cape Race than on the pre- 

 vious patrol cruise. Bergs were still present in large numbers just 

 north of the Grand Banks, where at least 125 different ones, many 

 of them large, were reported from between the forty-seventh and 

 fifty-second meridians. From along the eastern edge of the Grand 

 Banks there were reported no less than 50 different bergs. Between 

 corresponding dates in 1928 there was but one berg reported and none 

 sighted along the eastern edge and no bergs were south of the Tail. 



In the latitude of the Tail, where the Modoc cruised and made ob- 

 servations, there were numerous bergs between the forty-eighth and 

 fifty-third meridians. More than three-fourths of the bergs to reach 

 the forty-third parallel during the sixth cruise were curved to the 

 west and northwest around the Tail in an extension of the Labrador 

 Current. A number of bergs drifted south along the fiftieth meridian, 

 however, and into the Gulf Stream influence noted previously to be 

 flowing eastward strongly near the forty-second parallel. These bergs 

 were carried southward to a limit near 42° 00' N., 48° 00' W., by 

 tongue-like pushes of cool water that extended well into the Gulf 

 Stream drift. 



In the southern sector the Modoc saw that disintegration of the 

 bergs went on rather rapidly under the influence of warm sun and 

 warming surface water. The incoming temperature reports showed 

 higher surface temperatures in all of the ice-patrol area than during 

 the preceding cruise period. Besides the normal seasonal warming 

 of the surface waters there was noted considerable encroachment of 

 Gulf Stream water over areas that during the previous criuse were 

 occupied by cool mixed water. As the end of the cruise approached 

 it was apparent that great changes in the distribution of surface tem- 

 peratures were taking place. Warm water had pushed northeastward 



