International Ice Patrol Iceberg Sightings Database 1960-Present

Over 60 years of iceberg sighting records from the North Atlantic, collected by the International Ice Patrol since 1913. The dataset contains latitude, longitude, coded size and shape class, and date-time for each sighting within a defined patrol area. Data is provided in space-delimited ASCII text files.

Use Cases

• Analyzing temporal and spatial trends in iceberg drift using latitude, longitude, and date columns.
• Correlating iceberg size and shape codes with environmental conditions for hazard modeling.
• Studying long-term changes in iceberg distribution within the 40°N to 65°N, 39°W to 57°W patrol area.
• Validating satellite-derived sea ice and iceberg detection algorithms with ground-truth sighting data.

Strengths

• Contains records spanning from 1960 to near-present, providing a multi-decade time series.
• Data collection is conducted by the authoritative International Ice Patrol, established in 1913.
• Includes specific geospatial boundaries (40°N to 65°N, 39°W to 57°W) for the area of responsibility.

Limitations

• Column names and exact row counts are not specified in the available metadata.
• The license is inconsistently reported as 'other-license-specified' or 'None' across platforms.
• The patrol area changed in 2006 (40°N to 52°N prior), requiring careful temporal analysis.

Provenance

Source

International Ice Patrol (IIP), organized by NSIDCV0.

Collection Method

Systematic collection of iceberg sightings from patrol activities.

Time Range

1960 through most current processing.

Freshness

2026-03-13 01:26:01.752369

Geography

North Atlantic, specifically 40°N to 65°N and 39°W to 57°W (post-2006).