Ice Patrol receives iceberg reports from a variety of sources, including commercial shipping and aerial reconnaissance supported by several Canadian government agencies and private industry. Ice Patrol's own aerial reconnaissance accounts for less than one-third of the icebergs detected during a season. However, the importance of Ice Patrol's aerial reconnaissance exceeds that suggested by these simple statistics. Because Ice Patrol's intent is to define the iceberg limits as accurately as possible, neither underestimating nor overestimating the extent of the threat, its reconnaissance effort focuses on icebergs that define the boundaries. Thus, the Ice Patrol aircraft usually operates in areas of low iceberg density. Considering the limit-setting icebergs, Ice Patrol reconnaissance accounts for over half of these vitally important icebergs. The ability of the Ice Patrol aircraft to detect and identify icebergs is critical to the success of the mission.

Report Sources of the 425 ice reports in 2003 (including multiple icebergs, radar targets and sea ice):

Report Sources of the 2,454 individual icebergs and radar targets entered into the database in 2003:

Sighting Sources of the 110 Limit Setting Icebergs in 2003:

IIP = International Ice Patrol
NIC = National Ice Center,
BAPS = Berg Analysis and Prediction System