Summary of Operations, 1993 



The 1993 IIP year (October 1 , 1992 - 

 September 30, 1993) marked the 79th anni- 

 versary of the International Ice Patrol, which 

 was established Febnjary 7, 1 91 4. MP's oper- 

 ating area is enclosed by lines along 40°N, 

 52°N, 39°W, and 57°W (Figure 1). 



llP'sfirst preseason aerial ICERECDET 

 of the year departed on January 1 1 . The 1 993 

 IIP season was opened on February 2 and 

 from this date until July 27, 1993, an 

 ICERECDET operated from Newfoundland 

 every otherweek. The season officially closed 

 on July 30, 1993. Coast Guard HC-130H 

 aircraft equipped with the AN/APS-135 Side- 

 Looking Airborne Radar (SLAR) and AN/APS- 

 137 Forward Looking Radar (FLAR) flew 59 

 ice reconnaissance sorties, logging over 393 

 flight hours, and Coast Guard HU-25B aircraft 

 equipped with the AN/APS-1 31 SLAR flew 1 6 

 reconnaissance sorties, logging over 42 flight 

 hours. 



IIP'sOperationsCenterinGroton, Con- 

 necticut analyzed the iceberg sighting infor- 

 mation from the ICERECDETs, ships, Atmo- 

 spheric Environment Service (AES) of Canada 

 sea ice/iceberg reconnaissance flights, and 

 other sources. Air reconnaissance was the 

 major source of iceberg sighting reports this 

 season, accounting for 81% of the icebergs 

 sighted in 1993 (Table 1). Ships provided 

 about 18% of the iceberg sightings received 

 by IIP in 1993. Their continued active partici- 

 pation indicates the value that they place on 

 MP's service. In 1 993, 299 ships of 45 different 

 nations provided ice information to IIP. This 

 indicates that the number of nations using the 

 services of and contributing to IIP far exceeds 

 the 1 7 member nations underwriting IIP under 

 SOLAS 1 974. Appendix C lists the ships that 

 provided iceberg sighting reports, including 

 reports of radar targets. In Appendix C, sev- 

 eral targets may have been included in a 

 single report. 



The largest contributor of air 

 reconnaissance reports was Atlantic Airways, 

 their reports account for nearly all of the 

 category "Other Air Recon". Atlantic Airways 

 is a private company that provides aerial re- 

 connaissance services for the Canadian De- 

 partment of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) year 

 round, and for AES June through December. 

 Their DFO flights, which are designated to 

 monitor the activities of fishing vessels, fre- 

 quently carry them to areas with large iceberg 

 concentrations. The next largest contribution 

 to their air reconnaissance total is the IIP 

 ICERECDETs. Due to the assigned mission 

 ofprotecting North Atlantic shipping, IIP flights 

 concentrate on the boundaries of the iceberg 

 distribution, which are typically areas of low 

 iceberg concentrations. BAPS sightings are 

 icebergs detected north of 52°N primarily by 

 AES reconnaissance. These are passed to 

 IIP by AES as the icebergs cross into the Ice 



