North Atlantic iceberg drift

Assembled from 23 blocks · 2 evidence · 67 related

1. Story
2. The seasonal cycle that puts ice in a shipping lane. Icebergs calve from the glaciers of west Greenland, are carried south on the Labrador Current, and waste away where they reach Gulf Stream water — so their reach varies enormously from year to year. The 1912 season pushed ice unusually far south and unusually early, and Titanic received at least six wireless ice reports during 14 April. Two conditions that night removed the warnings a lookout depends on: the sea was flat calm, so there was no breaking water at an iceberg's base, and there was no moon. The phenomenon is why the International Ice Patrol exists, and it is measured, not predicted — the patrol publishes observed limits of iceberg drift, not forecasts of where ice will be.
3. Knowledge
4. North Atlantic — Grand Banks approaches
5. North Atlantic iceberg drift
6. Connections
7. North Atlantic — Grand Banks approaches
8. RMS Titanic
9. North Atlantic iceberg drift
10. Titanic wreck site
11. International Ice Patrol
12. Baltic's ice warning handed to Ismay and pocketed
13. Mesaba reports heavy pack ice and bergs directly ahead
14. Iceberg sighted and struck
15. Titanic founders
16. International Ice Patrol established
17. Gulf Stream
18. Southern Ocean
19. Labrador Sea
20. The RAPID array begins continuous AMOC measurement at 26.5°N
21. Evidence
22. Found the loss due to collision with an iceberg brought about by the excessive speed at which the ship was navigated; recorded the ship's particulars, the voyage timings, the ice messages received and the lifeboat complement; held that Titanic exceeded the Board of Trade requirement; found the Californian could have reached her; concluded (incorrectly) that the hull sank intact.
23. Ice patrols of the North Atlantic shipping lanes began in response to the 1912 loss and were formalised by the 1914 SOLAS convention; the Patrol is funded by participating maritime nations and has been operated by the US Coast Guard since, publishing seasonal iceberg limits to shipping.