Other 



<1% 



Unknown 



<1% 



Merchant 



Vessels 



89% 



Figure 2. Reporting sources of the 1 ,708 information 

 reports received at Ice Patrol during 2003. Information 

 reports include ice, SST, and weather reports. 



Information Reports 



Voluntary reports were requested 

 from all ships transiting the Grand Banks 

 region. As in previous years, ships were 

 asked to report ice sightings, weather, and 

 sea surface temperatures via Canadian 

 Coast Guard Radio Station St. John's/ 

 VON, U. S. Coast Guard Communications 

 Area Master Station Atlantic/NMF or 

 Inmarsat-C or Inmarsat-A using code 42. 

 Ships were encouraged to make ice 

 reports even if "no ice" was sighted, as 

 knowledge of the lack of ice is also 

 fundamental to accurate product 

 generation for the mariner. The continued 

 success and viability of the International 

 Ice Patrol depends heavily upon all 

 contributors of ice reports. 



Merchant shipping provided the vast 

 majority of reports received by IIP. In 

 2003, 247 ships from 39 different countries 

 provided IIP with 1,512 or 89% of total 

 reports. This demonstrated that the 

 number of nations that used IIP services 

 exceeded the 17 member nations that 

 supported IIP under SOLAS. Furthermore, 

 the international merchant fleet's high level 

 of participation indicated the value placed 

 on IIP products and services. In 2003, the 

 merchant vessel that provided the most 

 reports was BERGE NORD (NonA/ay), 

 submitting 70 separate reports. Appendix 

 B lists all ships that provided information 

 reports, including weather, ice, stationary 

 radar target, and sea surface temperature 

 reports. While the vast majority of 

 information reports were received from 

 merchant shipping, IIP received valuable 

 information from other sources as well. 

 For example, the Canadian Government, 

 which included reports from the CIS 

 reconnaissance airplane, contract 

 reconnaissance flights by Provincial 

 Airlines, HMCS vessels, CCG vessels, and 

 even coastal lighthouses, provided 150 or 

 8% of the information reports received by 

 IIP. Figure 2 provides a thorough 

 breakdown of the sources for all 

 information reports handled during 2003. 



Ice Reports 



Canadian 



Govern m ent 



30% 



M erchant 



Vessels 



59% 



Figure 3. Reporting sources of the 425 ice reports 

 received during 2003. Ice reports include individual 

 iceberg sightings and stationary radar target information. 



Only a portion of the total reports 

 sent to IIP contained ice information; 

 specifically, 425 of the 1,708 information 

 reports contained data on icebergs. 

 Similar to information reports, the merchant 

 fleet provided the greatest number of ice 

 reports (59%) and the Canadian 

 Government 30%. The remaining 11% of 

 ice reports were received from IIP 

 reconnaissance, the National Ice Center, 

 and other resources. Refer to Figure 3 for 

 a breakdown of ice report sources. 



