Summary of 

 Operations, 1986 



During the 1986 Ice Patrol 

 season, from March 27 to July 3, 

 1986, the International Ice Patrol 

 (IIP), a unit of the U.S. Coast 

 Guard, conducted the International 

 Ice Patrol Service, which has been 

 provided annually since the 

 sinking of the RMS TITANIC on 

 April 15, 1912. During past years, 

 Coast Guard ships and/or aircraft 

 have patrolled the shipping lanes 

 off Newfoundland within the area 

 delineated by 40°N - 52°N, 39°W - 

 57°W, detecting icebergs and 

 warning mariners of these haz- 

 ards. During the 1986 Ice Patrol 

 season. Coast Guard HC-130 

 aircraft flew 45 ice reconnais- 

 sance sorties, logging over 294 

 flight hours. The AN/APS-135 

 Side-Looking Airtwrne Radar 

 (SLAR), which was introduced 

 into Ice Patrol duty during the 

 1983 season, again proved to be 

 an excellent all-weather tool for 

 the detection of both icebergs and 

 sea ice, providing 26.1 percent of 

 all 1986 sightings. 



Deployments were made February 

 1- 5 and March 1 1-20 to deter- 

 mine the pre-season iceberg 

 distribution. Based on the latter 

 trip, regular deployments started 

 on March 25 with the 1986 season 

 opening on March 27. From that 

 date until July 2, 1986, an aerial 

 Ice Reconnaissance Detachment 

 (ICERECDET) operated from 

 Gander, Newfoundland one week 

 out of every two. The season 

 officially closed on July 3, 1986. 



During the 1986 ice year, an esti- 

 mated 204 icebergs drifted south 



of 48°N latitude. Table 1 shows 

 monthly estimates of the number 

 of icebergs that crossed 48°N. 



Six satellite-tracked oceano- 

 graphic drifters were deployed to 

 provide operational data for HP's 

 iceberg drift model. The drift data 

 from these buoys are discussed in 

 Appendix B. 



No U. S. Coast Guard cutters 

 were deployed to act as surface 

 patrol vessels this year. The 

 USCGC EVERGREEN was de- 

 ployed to conduct oceanographic 

 research for the Ice Patrol during 

 the period April 22 through May 



22. In 1986, research efforts were 

 directed toward studying ocean 

 frontal features associated with a 

 warm core eddy between the 

 Grand Bank and the North Atlantic 

 Current. SLAR was used to map 

 the surface roughness gradients 

 across frontal boundaries. The 

 study area was re-mapped weekly 

 during the month of May. Based 

 on the initial SLAR survey, a 

 series of hydrographic transects 

 were made of the eddy, and 

 satellite-tracked drifting buoys 

 were dsployed in the area. The 

 results of this study are presented 

 in Appendix C. 



Table 1. Icebergs South of 48° North The three periods shown are 

 ship reconnaissance (1900-45), aircraft visual reconnaissance 

 (1946-82) and SLAR reconnaissance (1983-85) 



