Jökull - 01.12.1953, Qupperneq 47

Report on Sea Ice off the Icelandic Coasts in Jan,—
Sept. 1953
BY J. EYTHORSSON
On request of the National Research Council,
Reykjavík, I have collected the available obser-
vations of Sea Ice within the area between Ice-
land and Greenland, from 65°—72° N. lat., since
the begin of January 1953. Most of the obser-
vations thus collected are from air planes in
flight between Iceland and Greenland. Other
sources are the coastal meteorological stations,
fishing ships and coastal vessels reporting Sea
ice, when sighted, to Veðurstofa Islands (The
Met. Office of Iceland). Important reports on
the Ice limits in March—April were also received
through Norsk Polar Institutt, Oslo.
It is hoped that yearly reports on ice condi-
tions at and off the Icelandic Coasts will be
included in JÖKULL in the future. As this is
the first report published the form might,
however, be changed.
The Icelandic Coasts were free of ice throug-
hout the year 1953. Ice was never reported
within sight from coastal stations except some
single icebergs which approached the NW
promontories in August and September. Ship-
ping was never impeded along the coasts by
drift ice or winter fast ice. On some rare occas-
ions fishing vessels reported scattered ice on or
near the fishing banks off the NW coast.
On the accompanying maps I have traced
the average position of the ice edge for each of
the months January to June, according to data
at hand. The black dots denote the single re-
ports. Thus a line connecting the dots nearest
to Iceland would mean the maximum extension
of the ice drift within the month in question.
It would probably be justified to say that the
ice edge has been oscillating within the dotted
area, although the observations may not all be
strictly compareable, i. e. in some cases they
refer to the limits of compact ice while in other
cases they refer to the position of scattered
drift ice.
JANUARY.
Distances in nautical miles.
The average distance of the ice edge frorn
Straumnes 60 miles, the nearest approach
about 40 miles.
Vi Ice field on 6646/2421 (= 66° 46' N,
24° 21' W). S/T Elliði.
1 /± Ice flow edge from 6900/2000 to 6545/-
3000, dispersed at latter position.
3/i Ice flow 6950/1810 - 6845/2010 - 6730/-
2300 — 6630/2800 extending generally NNE to
SSW along the coast of Greenland.
s/i Ice flow 6900/2050 - 6630/2945 - 6515/-
3150.
7/i Ice flow NE by SW, 130 miles from coast
of Greenland, 6910/1930 - 6730/2430 - 6600/-
2700 - 6530/3100 - 6520/3500 to 6430/3400 (?).
9/i Ice flow from 6900/2000 - 6715/2800 -
6530/3050.
13/i Margin of ice flow runs from 6600/3106
- 6900/1900.
77/i Ice flow 6900/2000 - 6500/3700.
20/i Ice flow extends in approx. straight line
from 6815/2040 to 6500/3200.
21/i From pos. 66.1 N/26.1 W: Strips of ice
and ice bergs seen towards W, NW and N.
(Meerkatze).
31/i Ice flow 6540/2930 to 6738/2400.
FEBRUARY.
The average distance of the ice edge from
Straumnes 100 miles, the nearest approach
80 miles.
s/2 Ice pack 6630/2630 to 6800/2300.
8/2 Ice pack 6915/1550 - 6900/1815 -
6840/1735 - 6815/1950 - 6815/2130.
10/2 Ice flow 7000/1800 - 6830/2300 -
6800/2400 - 6720/2630 - 6740/2900 to
6720/3100 - 6555/3100 - 6655/3215 -
6540/3215 - 6515/3315 - 6530/3500 to 6500/-
3700.
10/2 6815/2230 coverage 0.1; 6820/2230 cover-
age 0.5; 6830/2230 coverage 1.0 (TF—ISE
J- Ey.)
21/2 Ice pack 6806/2150 - 6725/2450.
24/2 Ice pack 6610/3131 - 6715/2545.
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