ABSTRACT 



The 1947 ice season was unusually light, with a total of 63 bergs 

 estimated to have drifted south past the 48th parallel. Of these, 

 three drifted far enough south to menace the effective North 

 Atlantic Track Agreement steamer lanes. Although the season lasted 

 until 23 July, the situation was never critical enough to warrant 

 the formal inauguration of the continuous surface vessel patrol. 

 Ice observation, as in 1946, was carried out with a combination of 

 air and surface craft. Again shortages of trained personnel and 

 equipment prevented the resumption of the oceanographic program 

 of the International Ice Patrol. In the absence, therefore, of detailed 

 oceanographic observations it is only possible to deduce the current 

 situation by inference from other indicators such as ice distribu- 

 tion and berg drifts. Some unusually rapid drifts were noted, one 

 berg in particular maintaining an average speed of about 30 miles 

 a day during its voyage along the entire eastern edge of the Grand 

 Banks during June. It is considered fortunate that such a current 

 pattern coincided with a dearth of bergs. The destruction of nearly 

 all of the year's crop of bergs is described as being the result of an 

 unusual prevalence of on-shore winds along the Newfoundland and 

 Labrador coasts during February and early March. This feature 

 is discussed with reference to the barometric pressure distribution 

 which existed in the area from November 1946 through June 1947. 



(II) 



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