Information Reports 



As in previous years, IIP requested 

 voluntary information reports from all ships 

 transiting the Grand Banks region. Ice Patrol 

 requested that ships report ice sightings, radar 

 targets, weather, and sea-surface temperatures 

 via Canadian Coast Guard Radio Station St. 

 John's/VON, U. S. Coast Guard CAMSLANT, 

 and — using code 42 — Inmarsat-C and 

 Inmarsat-A. Ice Patrol encouraged ships to 

 make ice reports even if no ice was sighted 

 because knowledge of the absence of ice is also 

 fundamental to accurate product generation. 

 The continued success and viability of the 

 International Ice Patrol depends heavily upon 

 all who contribute information reports. 



Merchant shipping provided the 

 majority of reports. In 2005, 74 ships from 25 

 countries provided IIP with 735 reports — 92% 

 of 804 total reports demonstrating that the 

 number of nations using Ice Patrol services 

 exceeds the 17 member nations that support IIP 

 under SOLAS. The merchant vessel Mattea 

 (Canada) made the most reports to IIP in 2005, 

 submitting a total of 92. Appendix B lists all 

 reporting sources in 2005. 



While the majority of information 

 reports came from merchant shipping, Ice 

 Patrol also received valuable information from 

 many Canadian Government sources. These 

 sources included contract reconnaissance 

 flights by Provincial Aerospace Limited, 

 HMCS and CCG vessels, and coastal 

 lighthouses, all of which combined provided 39 



Merchant 



Vessels 



92% 



reports, or 5% of the year's total. Finally, other 

 sources (e.g., fishing vessels, commercial 

 aircraft, recreation boats) — some for which the 

 platform is unknown — provided the remaining 

 1% of reports. Figure 2 provides a breakdown 

 of the sources of all information reports 

 received in 2005. 



Ice Reports 



Only 72 of the 804 reports sent to Ice 

 Patrol contained ice information. The Canadian 

 Government provided 53% of ice reports, Ice 

 Patrol 24%, and the international merchant fleet 

 22%. The National Ice Center provided the 

 remaining 1%. Figure 3 displays a breakdown 

 of ice-report sources. 



NIC 



Merchant 

 Vessels 



22% 



Figure 2. Reporting sources of the 804 information 

 reports received by IIP in 2005 (Information reports 

 include ice, sea-surface temperature, and weather.) 



Figure 3. Reporting sources for the 72 ice reports 

 received during 2005 (Ice reports include icebergs 

 and stationary radar targets.) 



Merged Targets 



The 72 ice reports received by IIP 

 contained 125 targets that were merged into 

 BAPS. The merchant fleet reported 32% of 

 merged targets, while targets transferred via 

 BAPS made up 25%. Ice Patrol reported 22%, 

 and the Canadian Government and NIC 

 combined reported 21%. BAPS targets are 

 those that were originally sighted north of Ice 

 Patrol's AOR and entered into the CIS model, 

 which forwarded them to IIP once they drifted 

 south of 52°N. This BAPS configuration makes 

 it extremely difficult to determine the original 

 reporting source of a target transferred from the 

 CIS model and thus explains why Figures 2 and 



