COURTESY OF THE US COAST GUARD
A Coast Guard International Ice Patrol team conducts initial ice patrols for the 2015 ice season on Feb. 10, 2015.
BARNSTABLE – The US Coast Guard has opened its ice season to detect and track icebergs in the North Atlantic Ocean.
The Coast Guard’s International Ice Patrol has detected 156 icebergs in its first deployment and will continue to monitor the seas and provide daily warnings for mariners.
The 2014 ice season was the 6th most severe on record with more than 1,500 icebergs drifting into transatlantic shipping lanes.
The severity of an ice season is measured by the number of icebergs passing into the boundary of the shipping lanes and how long they remain south of the boundary.
The International Ice Patrol was established in following the sinking of the Titanic in April of 1912 and no ship heeding warnings from the patrol have collided with an iceberg in the last 102 years.
