Environmental conditions on the 

 Grand Banks allow adequate visibility only 

 30% of the time during iceberg 

 reconnaissance operations. Therefore, IIP 

 relies heavily on its two airborne radar 

 systems to detect and identify icebergs 

 through cloudy and foggy conditions. IIP 

 has used SLAR since 1983 and FLAR 

 since 1993. The combination of SLAR and 

 FLAR to detect and identify icebergs in 

 pervasive low visibility conditions 

 minimizes the flight hours required to 

 accurately determine the LAKI. The radar 

 combination allows IIP to use 30 NM track 

 spacing. The C-130 with SLAR and FLAR 

 covers a large ocean area while providing 

 200% radar coverage (Figure 8). IIP can 

 currently cover 40,000 NM^ at 30 NM track 

 spacing in any visibility conditions. A 

 detailed description of HP's 



reconnaissance strategy is provided at 

 http://www.uscg.mil/lantarea/iip/FAQ/faq25. 

 html. 



An IRD was deployed to HP's base 

 of operations in St. John's, Newfoundland 

 for 83 days during the 2001 ice season 

 (Table 3). IIP scheduled airborne 

 reconnaissance every other week. IIP flew 

 58 sorties, 23 of which were transit flights 

 to and from St. John's. 29 sorties were 

 iceberg reconnaissance patrols to 

 determine the southwestern, southern and 

 southeastern LAKI. Three of the 29 patrol 

 sorties were operational evaluations of the 

 Maritime Surveillance System 5000, a new 

 digital display system for SLAR (see 

 Appendix E). No research sorties were 

 flown in 2001. Six sorties were logistics 

 flights from U. S. Coast Guard Air Station 

 Elizabeth City to maintain and repair the 

 aircraft. Figure 9 displays associated IIP 

 flight hours for 2001. 



Tables. 2001 IRD summary. 

 Note: 19.6 hours were funded by U. S. 

 Coast Guard Atlantic Area for operational 

 evaluation of MSB 5000. 



This decrease was due to a light ice 

 season in 2001 compared to a moderate 

 ice season in 2000. Figure 1 1 compares 

 flight hours with the number of icebergs 

 south of 48°N latitude since 1987. This 

 figure demonstrates that IIP expends a 

 fairly consistent number of flight hours 

 but the number of icebergs varies 

 significantly. A few icebergs can extend 

 the geographic distribution of the LAKI 

 even with a low number of icebergs 

 passing south of 48°N. IIP is often in the 

 position of having to patrol a large ocean 

 area with widely distributed icebergs. 



Logistics 

 Hours 



IIP used 324.5 flight hours in 2001, 

 56% decrease from 2000 (Figure 10). 



Figure 9. 2001 fligfit hours. 



11 



