| Last updated at 10:49 AM on 25/02/08 |
|
Members of the International Ice Patrol get a closer look at a berg from the rear door of their C-130 Hercules aircraft. — Photo courtesy International Ice Patrol |
|
|
Berg watchers 
International Ice Patrol keeps shipping lanes safe from icebergs since the sinking of the Titanic
MOIRA BAIRD
The Telegram
The iceberg season has begun, at least for the International Ice Patrol.
The U.S. Coast Guard’s annual hunt for ocean-going bits of glaciers drifting through Iceberg Alley off Newfoundland started with the sinking of the Titanic 95 years ago.
It continues with air reconnaissance patrols over 500,000 square miles of the North Atlantic, looking for icebergs that pose a threat to international shipping lanes.
“We draw the limit of all known ice,” said Cmdr. Scott Rogerson, head of the ice patrol based in Groton, Conn.
“We have had reports through the years of icebergs as far south as Bermuda.”
Rogerson was in St. John’s earlier this month for the first ice patrol flight of the season that typically runs from mid-February to July.
Almost two weeks ago, the most southerly icebergs were spotted along the edge of sea ice about 60 miles northeast of St. John’s.
Even in this technological era, Rogerson says the patrols remain a necessity for transatlantic shipping.
“The Grand Banks of Newfoundland is one of the most dangerous regions of the world for transatlantic shipping because you have fog, high seas, sea ice and icebergs, oil rigs and fishing vessels.
“We need to let the transatlantic ships know where those icebergs are so they can set a course around them.”
That detour can add as much as a day to a ship’s transatlantic voyage, depending on its destination and speed.
In 1993 — the year about 1,700 icebergs were tracked — three ships collided with bergs when they cut through the ice field.
Rogerson says the ice patrol cannot guarantee exact locations of all icebergs on its charts.
“Our maps are not for navigation.”
In June 2004, the Greenland shrimp vessel Solborg crumpled its bow when it hit an iceberg in poor visibility about 12 miles off the coast of Newfoundland. Chunks of ice still littered the ship’s deck when it arrived in St. John’s Harbour.
The International Ice Patrol’s mission is to track and chart icebergs drifting between the northerly latitudes of 48 degrees and 40 degrees.
Those latitudes fall roughly between the tip of the Northern Peninsula and the U.S. eastern seaboard city of Philadelphia.
“The ships that are trying to cross the Atlantic … want to come as close to Newfoundland as possible to make it as short a transit as possible,” said Rogerson.
On average, the ice patrol expects 250 icebergs to cross the 48th parallel each season, but that varies considerably.
In both 2003 and 2004, the ice patrol tracked an average of 900 icebergs. The following two years, a combined total of just 11 icebergs were tracked.
Last year, 324 icebergs were spotted south of the 48th parallel.
Icebergs typically take two to three years to drift south, once they calve off the West Greenland ice sheet. They usually drift into Baffin Bay before gradually making their way south in the Labrador Current.
From there, they pass through the Grand Banks or ground in shallow waters off Newfoundland and Labrador.
Typically, Rogerson says the threat of icebergs to shipping is highest between mid-March to May, as the ’bergs are freed up from retreating sea ice. Then, they drift more freely into shipping lanes.
Rogerson says an iceberg can drift at average speeds of one knot in open water, allowing it to drift up to 24 miles in a single day.
“Whether it’s 300 icebergs or 1,000 icebergs, it only takes one to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
The goal of ice patrol reconnaissance is a smooth flight, and that often means flying at different altitudes between 5,500 feet and 8,000 feet to avoid turbulence.
“If there’s any kind of turbulence, the radars don’t get a nice picture,” said Lt. Jonathan Miller, co-pilot of the Hercules C-130.
A typical ice patrol flight is about seven hours, flying in 30-mile-wide tracts, covering an area of about 50,000 square miles.
Occasionally, the ice patrol takes a closer look at an iceberg.
“You get a pretty good look from 500 feet,” said Miller.
The C-130 is equipped with both side-looking and forward-looking radar that spot anything within 30 miles. Human spotters, equipped with binoculars and cameras, also peer out the plane’s windows in search of ice.
Radar cannot always tell the difference between smaller icebergs and a fishing vessel, especially in sea ice.
“We would like visual confirmation, in particular, when we’re over sea ice. This time of a year is really a challenge,” said Rogerson.
To map the general location of icebergs, the ice patrol also partners with the Canadian Ice Service, the Canadian Coast Guard and Provincial Aerospace Ltd. (which tracks ice for oil companies working off Newfoundland).
And it uses reports of iceberg sightings from ships at sea.
“If a ship sees an iceberg on the Grand Banks, we need to know about that,” said Rogerson. “We never know when those reports are going to make a difference.”
mbaird@thetelegram.com
|
1
