Iceberg Reconnaissance & Oceanographic Operations 



Iceberg Reconnaissance 



The Ice Reconnaissance 



Detachment is a sub-unit under 

 Commander, International Ice Patrol 

 partnered with Coast Guard Air Station 

 Elizabeth City who provided the aircraft 

 platform. IRDs were deployed to observe 

 and report sea ice, iceberg and 

 oceanographic conditions on the Grand 

 Banks of Newfoundland. Oceanographic 

 observations were used in support of 

 operations as well as for research 

 purposes. 



Ice Patrol's pre-season IRD 

 departed on 21 January 2003 to determine 

 the early season iceberg distribution. The 

 iceberg distribution noted during the pre- 

 season IRD did not initially warrant regular 

 (every other week) deployments to 

 Newfoundland. Subsequently, only one 

 IRD was deployed during the six weeks 

 from the end of the pre-season until regular 

 deployments were started on 19 March 

 2003. Regular IRDs operated from St. 

 John's, Newfoundland until 13 July 2003. 

 An average of four 

 reconnaissance flights were 

 made during each IRD. 

 Iceberg reconnaissance 

 operations concluded with 

 the return of the post- 

 season IRD on 5 September 

 2003. 



Coast Guard aircraft 

 were the primary means of 

 detecting icebergs that form 

 the Limit of All Known Ice. 

 IIP utilized a Coast Guard 

 HC-130H long-range aircraft 

 equipped with the Motorola 

 AN/APS-135 Side-Looking 

 Airborne Radar and the 



Texas Instruments AN/APS-137 Forward- 

 Looking Airborne Radar to conduct iceberg 

 reconnaissance. IIP has used SLAR since 

 1983, incorporated the Maritime 

 Surveillance System (MSS) 5000 to SLAR 

 in 2000, and has used FLAR since 1993. 



Environmental conditions on the 

 Grand Banks permitted adequate visibility 

 only 30% of the time during iceberg 

 reconnaissance operations. Consequently, 

 IIP relied heavily on its two airborne radar 

 systems to detect and identify icebergs 

 through cloudy and foggy conditions. The 

 radar combination of SLAR and FLAR 

 allowed detection and identification of 

 icebergs in pervasive low visibility 

 conditions minimizing the flight hours 

 required to accurately determine the LAKI. 

 The radar combination allowed IIP to use 

 30 NM track spacing throughout the 

 season. The HC-130H with SLAR and 

 FLAR facilitated coverage of 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 MP's 



FLAR & SLAR Radar Coverage 



SLAR 



30 NM track spacing provides 200% radar coverage of search area 



30 NM 

 Track Spacing 



Drawing is not to scale 



Figure 8. Radar reconnaissance plan. 



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