12 



ported from the North." ' Fourteen years later the U. S. Coast 

 Guard sent its second expedition northward, as the commandant 

 remarked, "to broaden the scope of this work and to obtain data 

 necessary for a complete analysis and exposition of the iceberg situa- 

 tion and related subjects, the Marion Expedition was dispatched the 

 summer of 1928 to carry out an oceanographic survey of the waters 

 between Greenland and the North American Continent, with especial 

 reference to a study of ice conditions." ^ Beginning in 1931, and with 

 few interruptions, the Coast Guard at the termination of each Ice 

 Patrol season, has sponsored cruises to the Labrador Sea and Green- 

 land. These so-called ''post-season cruises" have, however, concen- 

 trated on oceanographic investigations with less and less of the pro- 

 gram devoted to ice observation. 



Attention has been called from time to time to the great fluctuations 

 in the amount of ice (pack and berg) which characterize the seasons 

 south of Newfoundland. One year, for example, like 1939, the pack- 

 ice may spread out over the Grand Banks in great masses, resulting 

 in much damage and delay south of Newfoimdland to unwary ships. 

 Icebergs during such seasons are notably more numerous, delay the 

 schedules of trans-Atlantic liners and threaten the southern routes 

 far into the summer. Yet another year, such as 1940, little pack-ice 

 and not a single iceberg maj^ succeed in drifting past Newfoundland. 

 Surely it is the business of the Coast Guard operating the Ice Patrol 

 service in the North Atlantic, to know something about the causes of 

 these extraordinary variations w^iich so vitally affect the safetj^ of the 

 North Atlantic sea lanes, and, it possible, information should be 

 obtained in advance of an especially dangerous ice season. 



The Coast Guard already has made some progress on this problem 

 when several years ago it discovered a relationship of positive sign 

 between the prevalence of wintertime northwesterly winds over the 

 northwestern North Atlantic and the abundance of ice south of New- 

 foundland the following spring. The degree of accuracy of the fore- 

 casts is, however, not sufficiently pronounced, indicating that other 

 important factors are involved. A winter characterized by north- 

 westerly winds of abnormal duration and strength, for example, will 

 not result in more ice off Newfoundland, if there were no ice or a defi- 

 ciency of ice, that particular winter in the north. Instead, therefore, 

 of continuing attempts to improve iceberg forecasting with post- 

 season cruises devoted solely to oceanographic investigations it has 

 been advocated that the Ice Patrol also undertake more ice observa- 

 tion. Ice observation duty was particularly provided for in the estab- 

 lishment of the Ice Patrol to occupy the services of one vessel at other 



• Johnston, C. E. 1915 Special Cruise-Ice Observation, U. S. Coast Guard Bulletin. No. 3, pp. 33-35. 

 Washington. 



» Ricketts & Trask. 1932. The Marion Expedition to Davis Strait ana Baffin Bay under the Direction 

 of the U. S. Coast Guard, pt. I. Washington. 



