North American Ice Service News

The Coast Guard International Ice Patrol announced it has commenced operations for the 2019 ice season as of Feb. 5, 2019 and will resume production of the North American Ice Service (NAIS) daily iceberg warning products from its operations center in New London, Connecticut.The International Ice Patrol generates the iceberg warnings from February through August, when icebergs pose the greatest threat to transatlantic shipping. The Canadian Ice Service generates the iceberg warning products for the remainder of the year.

The U.S. Coast Guard International Ice Patrol (IIP) is scheduled to take over responsibility Wednesday for issuing daily iceberg warnings for the North Atlantic Ocean from the Canadian Ice Service under the North American Ice Service (NAIS) collaboration marking the beginning of the 2014 ice season. In early February, the IIP will deploy the first ice reconnaissance detachment to Newfoundland, Canada to meet with Canadian partners and to conduct the initial aerial patrols of the season. Iceberg reconnaissance is conducted primarily with HC-130J aircraft from U.S.

The Sea Research Foundation opened its “Titanic – 12,450 Feet Below” in the Ocean Exploration Center of the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut in April of 2012. This year, the Foundation expanded the exhibit to include a gallery about the U.S. Coast Guard International Ice Patrol as a positive outcome of the tragedy. The addition officially opened in April of 2013, the month that also marked the Ice Patrol’s centennial. In April of 1912, the RMS Titanic, on her maiden voyage, struck an iceberg near the Tail of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, and sank with the loss of more than 1,500 lives.

Now traversing the Northwest Passage, the Ocean Watch crew - four professional sailors, a scientist and an educator - recently completed the deployment of three NOAA Global Drifter Program buoys. Dr. Ignatius Rigor, research scientist at the University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory (UW-APL) Polar Science Center and Coordinator of the International Arctic Buoy Program (IABP) is directing these activities. This project, one of 8 scientific projects planned throughout the 13-month Around the Americas expedition…

Commander Denise Kruse will relieve Captain Raymond Chartier as Director of the National Ice Center (NIC), Commanding Officer of the Naval Ice Center (NAVICECEN),  and CO-Director of the North American Ice Service (NAIS), Suitland, MD at a ceremony to be held at the U.S. Navy Memorial Heritage Center in Washington, DC on December 16, 2008. Captain Chartier has been Director/Commanding Officer since May 23, 2007. Commander Kruse’s previous assignment was US Naval Central Command /Combined Maritime Force/Fifth Fleet Staff Oceanographer. NIC is a multi-agency operational center operated jointly by the U.S. Navy (through NAVICECEN), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the U.S. Coast Guard.