Figure 2. Reporting sources of the 1 ,957 information 

 reports received at Ice Patrol during 2002. 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 

 2002, 192 ships from 21 different nations 

 provided IIP with 1,613 or 81% of total 

 reports. This demonstrates that the 

 number of nations that used IIP services 

 exceeds the 17 member nations supporting 

 IIP under SOLAS. Furthermore, the 

 international merchant fleet's high level of 

 participation indicated the value placed on 

 IIP products and services. In 2002, the 

 merchant vessel that provided the most 

 reports was HMCS FREDERICTON 

 (Canada), submitting 108 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 includes 

 reports from the CIS reconnaissance 

 airplane, contract reconnaissance flights by 

 Provincial Airlines, HMCS vessels at sea, 

 and even coastal lighthouses, provided 

 265 or 14% of the information reports 

 received by IIP. Figure 2 provides a 

 thorough breakdown of the sources for all 

 information reports handled during 2002. 



Ice Reports 



Canadian 



G overnm ent 



47% 



Figure 3. Reporting sources of the 480 ice reports 

 received during 2002. Ice reports include individual 

 iceberg sightings, stationary radar target information, 

 and sea ice reports. 



Only a portion of the total reports 

 sent to IIP contained ice information; 

 specifically, 480 of the 1,957 information 

 reports contained data on icebergs or sea 

 ice. Differing from information reports, the 

 Canadian Government provided the 

 greatest number of ice reports (47%) and 

 the merchant fleet 40%. The remaining 

 13% of ice reports were received from IIP 

 reconnaissance, the National Ice Center, 

 fixed oil platforms and even a number of 

 commercial fishing vessels. Refer to 

 Figure 3 for a breakdown of ice report 

 sources. 



