Table of Ice Reports, Greenland Area, 19^5 — Continued 



INTERNATIONAL ICE PATROL, 1946 



The manner in which the present day International Ice Patrol 

 is conducted is the cumulative development of more than three 

 decades of experience during which technological and scientific 

 advances have been applied wherever practicable. The war years 

 have been particularly productive of such advances and as a result 

 of their application the organization involved is somewhat differ- 

 ent than it was during the pre-war period. The factor introducing 

 the greatest change is the use of aircraft to supplement the activ- 

 ity of surface patrol vessels. Given suitable observing weather, 

 aerial ice observation flights can effectively cover a far greater 

 part of the critical area in a single day than is possible with sur- 

 face craft. On the other hand there are frequent occasions when 

 surface vessels can scout for ice but when weather conditions such 

 as bad turbulence, icing conditions or terminal weather make 

 aerial reconnaissance impractical. It will be seen, therefore, that 

 aerial and surface activity supplement each other. The best use 

 of both methods has led to the shift in location of the coordinating 

 center from the patrol vessel to the air field at which the planes 

 are based. 



This in turn has brought changes in communications. The 

 surface vessel on patrol, using call sign NIDK, collects the 4-hourly 

 reports from ships passing through the ice patrol area and relays 

 the ice and obstruction reports to the Ice Patrol office ashore 

 where this information is combined with similar information from 

 all other sources and condensed into the ice bulletins which are 



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