via the Atlantic East and West satellites. 

 Another transmitting station for the 

 bulletins was the Marine Communications 

 and Traffic Services St. AnthonyA/CM. IIP 

 also prepared an ice chart depicting the 

 1200Z Limit of All Known Ice for broadcast 

 at 1600Z and 1810Z daily. U. S. Coast 

 Guard Communications Area Master 

 Station Atlantic/NMF and the National 

 Weather Service assisted with the 

 transmission of the ice chart. On the 

 eastern side of the Atlantic, the German 

 Federal Maritime and Hydrographic 

 Agency stations Hamburg/DDH and 

 Pinneberg/DDK transmitted MP's ice chart. 

 Finally, both the bulletin and chart were 

 placed on HP's website. The ice chart was 

 also made available via plain paper 

 facsimile and e-mail on demand. 



IIP transmitted 232 scheduled ice 

 bulletins in 2003. IIP measured the quality 

 and timeliness of the bulletins delivered to 

 the mariner via the SafetyNET service, as 

 this is the primary product for HP's largest 

 customer base. Of 232 total bulletins sent, 

 230 (99%) arrived at the system on time, or 

 by OOOOZ or 1200Z, respectively. The late 

 deliveries were due primarily to minor 

 technical difficulties in sending the product 

 through HP's commercial INMARSAT 

 provider. 



In 2003, IIP produced 116 Ice charts 

 that were distributed via HF radiofacsimile, 

 e-mail on demand, and published on the 

 WWW. Of these, 105 (91%) were delivered 

 on time. Late ice charts were defined as 

 those for which the radio frequency start 

 tone began more than one minute later 

 than the scheduled transmission time 

 (1600Z or 1810Z). The primary cause of 

 late ice charts was difficulty getting the 

 signal from IIP through the line to 

 CAMSLANT. 



Safety Broadcasts 



IIP sent 20 unscheduled safety 

 broadcasts during the 2003 season for 29 

 iceberg or stationary radar target sightings 

 near or outside the published LAKI. Of 

 these 29 targets, 1 1 were icebergs 

 reported outside the published LAKI, 4 

 were icebergs inside but near the LAKI, 

 and the remaining 14 detailed stationary 

 radar targets. 



Historical Perspective 



To compare ice years in a historical 

 perspective, IIP uses two different 

 measurements. The first is the season's 

 length in days (Figure 6). The second is 

 the number of icebergs south of 48°N 

 (Figure 7). This measurement includes 

 both icebergs detected south of 48°N and 

 those that were originally detected north of 



2003 

 2002 



S 2001 



2000 E 

 1 999 



50 



1 00 

 Days 



1 50 



200 



Figure 6. Length of ice season in days since 1999. 

 The climatological (three year) mean is 120 days. 



200 400 600 800 1000 



Icebergs 



Figure 7. Count of individual icebergs (sighted and 

 drifted) south of 48°N since 1999. The climatological 

 (three year) mean is 631 icebergs. 



