Ice Patrol’s Iceberg Counts

This table presents the number of icebergs that passed south of 48° N latitude each month since 1900. It reflects the current definition of the ice year, which extends from October through the following September. The yearly total is simply the summation of the monthly values. For each line, the year is based on the year of the January that appears in the line.

The origin of this iceberg count table can be traced to the 1926 IIP Annual Report in which monthly iceberg counts were presented for 1900 through 1926. The early part of the iceberg history was reconstructed with data gleaned from mariner’s reports to the United States Hydrographic Office. The latter part came from IIP’s records. In all the years that followed, Ice Patrol has presented monthly iceberg counts in its annual reports.

At the time of the 1926 reconstruction, the ice year was the same as the calendar year. IIP maintained this convention until 1967 when its definition was changed to September to August. There were two reasons for this change. First, it recognized the seasonal nature of IIP’s operations. Icebergs usually stopped arriving on the Grand Bank in late summer and didn’t resume until winter, possibly as early as November or December. Thus, the late summer is a natural break in the movement of icebergs onto the Grand Banks. Second, and perhaps on a more pragmatic level, IIP did not have wait until the end of the calendar year to prepare its annual report.

The second change followed the 1982 iceberg season, when the ice year was redefined as October through September. This small change was undertaken for two reasons. First, it reduced the likelihood that an ice season would carry over into the following ice year. Second, it fell into line with the U. S. Government's fiscal year. The first reason probably carried more weight; since the 1982 season ended very late (1 September 1982), and IIP was concerned about the carry-over issue.

Each time IIP changed the definition of the ice year they recomputed the yearly totals, so the new values would be internally consistent. These computations caused some small inconsistencies with the original yearly totals presented in the various IIP annual reports. For example, in 1940 and 1941 the ice year was the calendar year. In both years it was reported in IIP’s annual reports that two icebergs passed south of 48° N during the year. One of these icebergs passed south of 48° N in November 1940 and was originally counted as a 1940 observation. It is now counted as a 1941 observation. Thus, in 1940 there is one iceberg listed, and in 1941, three.

include & update totals & mean when data is available
YEAR OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP TOTAL
1900 000 000 000 010 000 000 005 032 033 006 001 001 088
1901 001 000 000 001 000 000 004 013 029 022 006 005 081
1902 001 002 005 003 000 001 001 013 005 016 001 000 048
1903 001 000 000 000 002 400 166 151 052 023 007 000 802
1904 000 000 001 000 000 012 063 082 089 014 003 002 266
1905 000 000 000 003 002 168 373 109 100 050 009 008 822
1906 008 000 015 014 011 077 049 133 087 018 016 000 428
1907 000 000 000 000 001 011 162 248 138 064 011 000 635
1908 000 000 003 001 000 007 039 082 051 002 002 020 207
1909 015 003 000 000 055 147 134 321 181 121 045 019 1,041
1910 001 000 000 000 000 000 034 010 003 003 000 000 051
1911 000 000 000 000 008 041 112 072 077 021 040 003 374
1912 000 008 014 001 000 034 395 345 159 063 019 000 1,038
1913 000 003 000 002 004 037 109 292 071 014 004 007 543
1914 000 006 004 001 041 032 027 419 071 022 046 052 721
1915 013 001 006 014 072 067 096 097 071 028 017 005 487
1916 000 001 000 000 000 000 000 025 029 000 000 000 055
1917 000 000 000 000 000 013 003 003 009 010 000 000 038
1918 000 000 000 000 000 012 023 026 037 027 034 022 181
1919 001 014 003 003 004 005 025 075 056 026 036 069 317
1920 002 012 004 006 043 020 005 211 086 018 005 018 430
1921 019 010 004 017 005 043 210 198 175 053 024 004 762
1922 010 001 006 000 003 035 071 245 083 021 011 006 492
1923 027 021 000 000 003 028 065 083 042 010 003 002 284
1924 000 000 000 003 000 006 002 000 000 000 000 000 011
1925 000 000 000 000 003 005 008 058 022 013 000 000 109
1926 000 000 000 000 003 015 058 168 085 004 006 002 341
1927 003 001 000 004 010 026 093 153 095 005 003 000 393
1928 000 000 000 000 000 014 156 190 087 055 005 000 507
1929 004 004 000 000 000 045 332 460 376 107 001 000 1,329
1930 000 018 012 014 116 087 089 101 062 003 001 001 504
1931 001 000 000 000 000 002 001 010 000 000 000 000 014
1932 000 000 000 000 001 043 321 090 058 001 000 000 514
1933 000 000 000 000 002 004 012 162 036 000 000 000 216
1934 000 000 000 001 000 000 245 228 087 014 001 000 576
1935 000 000 000 000 000 046 177 501 134 011 003 000 872
1936 000 000 003 000 000 000 008 014 000 000 000 000 025
1937 000 000 000 020 053 121 124 137 014 001 000 000 470
1938 000 000 000 002 003 038 212 286 110 013 000 000 664
1939 000 000 000 000 000 022 173 471 150 028 006 000 850
1940 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 001 000 000 000 000 001
1941 000 001 000 000 000 000 001 001 000 000 000 000 003
1942 000 000 000 000 000 030 000 000 000 000 000 000 030
1943 000 000 000 000 000 025 090 298 270 150 007 000 840
1944 000 000 000 000 000 031 319 213 106 030 001 000 700
1945 000 000 000 000 006 352 253 256 092 109 015 000 1,083
1946 000 000 000 000 002 067 098 168 088 007 000 000 430
1947 000 000 000 003 001 002 005 011 026 015 000 000 063
1948 000 000 000 000 000 060 210 185 068 000 000 000 523
1949 000 000 000 000 000 001 023 020 003 000 000 000 047
1950 000 000 000 000 012 061 183 135 058 007 000 001 457
1951 001 002 000 000 003 002 000 000 000 000 000 000 008
1952 000 000 001 000 000 000 012 002 000 000 000 000 015
1953 000 000 000 000 000 021 011 018 006 000 000 000 056
1954 000 000 000 001 016 047 165 065 016 002 000 000 312
1955 000 000 000 000 000 010 032 014 005 000 000 000 061
1956 000 000 000 000 000 009 013 034 021 003 000 000 080
1957 000 000 000 003 043 041 172 265 288 113 006 000 931
1958 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 001 000 000 001
1959 000 000 000 000 000 014 266 180 186 043 000 000 689
1960 000 002 003 003 000 000 041 161 044 004 000 000 258
1961 000 000 000 000 006 060 030 016 001 000 001 000 114
1962 001 000 001 000 000 014 070 021 010 003 000 001 121
1963 000 000 000 000 000 004 020 000 001 000 000 000 025
1964 000 000 000 000 003 088 225 019 028 005 001 000 369
1965 000 000 000 000 001 019 033 022 001 000 000 000 076
1966 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
1967 000 000 000 000 000 025 134 209 065 008 000 000 441
1968 000 000 000 000 000 000 104 044 060 014 004 004 230
1969 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 035 017 001 000 000 053
1970 000 000 000 000 000 000 005 002 070 008 000 000 085
1971 000 000 000 000 000 031 004 020 007 011 000 000 073
1972 000 000 000 000 040 185 501 559 225 048 026 004 1,588
1973 000 000 006 054 110 134 212 159 151 019 001 000 846
1974 000 000 000 000 001 099 345 446 266 168 061 001 1,387
1975 000 000 000 000 024 041 010 020 005 000 000 000 100
1976 000 000 000 000 000 033 013 067 035 003 000 000 151
1977 000 000 000 000 003 007 012 000 000 000 000 000 022
1978 000 000 000 000 000 005 028 035 007 000 000 000 075
1979 000 000 000 000 005 020 081 034 009 003 000 000 152
1980 000 000 000 001 003 007 000 009 004 000 000 000 024
1981 000 000 000 000 000 048 010 005 000 000 000 000 063
1982 000 000 000 000 000 017 061 013 094 003 000 000 188
1983 000 000 002 009 165 124 339 465 168 076 004 000 1,352
1984 000 000 000 000 000 101 953 484 227 335 093 009 2,202
1985 003 011 007 002 057 129 208 205 247 123 039 032 1,063
1986 000 000 000 000 003 040 060 059 024 018 000 000 204
1987 000 000 005 002 014 048 076 029 127 015 002 000 318
1988 000 000 000 000 000 008 095 033 020 019 010 002 187
1989 003 000 000 000 019 127 068 039 035 010 000 000 301
1990 000 000 000 000 009 112 376 187 076 026 007 000 793
1991 000 000 000 000 020 115 144 269 1030 325 071 000 1,974
1992 000 000 000 000 069 053 099 230 103 171 132 019 876
1993 000 000 016 112 336 276 428 338 188 050 008 001 1,753
1994 000 000 000 000 079 529 208 377 387 161 024 000 1,765
1995 000 000 000 000 043 385 334 405 218 041 006 000 1,432
1996 000 000 000 000 000 004 297 187 108 014 001 000 611
1997 000 000 000 000 010 475 162 238 080 043 003 000 1,011
1998 000 000 000 000 005 026 070 1017 247 015 000 000 1,380
1999 000 000 000 000 000 001 002 011 005 003 000 000 022
2000 000 000 000 000 000 286 239 212 065 041 000 000 843
2001 000 000 000 000 004 031 031 019 004 000 000 000 089
2002 000 000 000 000 016 173 316 308 064 000 000 000 877
2003 000 000 000 000 000 084 263 494 076 010 000 000 927
2004 000 000 000 000 000 000 024 114 117 007 000 000 262
2005 000 000 000 000 000 009 001 001 000 000 000 000 011
2006 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
2007 000 000 000 000 000 004 040 071 183 026 000 000 324
2008 000 000 000 000 000 045 712 173 043 003 000 000 976
2009 000 000 000 000 000 286 266 450 180 021 001 000 1204
TOTAL 115 121 121 310 1,573 6,745 13,785 16,491 9,405 3,238 890 320 53,114
MEAN 001 001 001 003 014 061 125 150 086 029 008 003 483
YEAR OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP TOTAL

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