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International Ice Charting Working Group

IICWG Business

Ice Information Services: Socio-economic Benefits and Earth Observation Requirements (posted November 2007)
Letter to Group on Earth Observations (posted June 2004)
WMO JCOMM Endorses Color Standard and Shapefile SIGRID-3 Format (June 2004)
Ad Hoc Chart Archive Format Working Group (last updated June 2004)
CEOS Ice Hazards Report (posted 2002)
ECDIS Ice Objects Defined (Posted 2001)
Collaboration Opportunities (last updated 2002)
NIC Ice Analyst Job Qualification Requirements (posted 2002)
Description of Ice Forecasting Models at Ice Centers (posted 2001)
Table of Ice Center Chart Production Methods and Attributes (last updated 2005)
Ice Service Climatological Products
Trends in Ice Cover from Ice Service Products (DRAFT)

IICWG Report to GEO and GMES

Ice Information Services: Socio-economic Benefits and Earth Observation Requirements (PDF, 3.1 MB) was prepared by IICWG for the Group on Earth Observation (GEO) and Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES).

This letter (Microsoft Word file), dated 9 June 2004, outlines ice observing systems, sea ice data utilization, and endorsement of sea ice and the IICWG as an important element of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) initiative. R. David Grimes, Meteorological Service of Canada, and Richard M. Barazotto, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, sent the letter to the GEO Secretariat Office.

Color Standard and Shapefile SIGRID-3 Format

The Color Standard and SIGRID-3 formats are now official WMO standards, and may be referenced as:
SIGRID-3: A Vector Archive Format for Sea Ice Charts. JCOMM Technical Report Series No. 23, 2004, WMO/TD-No. 1214.

Ice Chart Colour Code Standard. - JCOMM Technical Report Series No. 24, 2004, WMO/TD-No. 1215.

These documents are available from http://www.wmo.ch/web/aom/marprog/Publications/publications.htm, or contact John Falkingham for the Ice Chart Colour Code Standard, or Florence Fetterer for the SIGRID-3 Standard.

CEOS Ice Hazards Report

The CEOS Ice Hazards Report, 2000, identifies requirements and reviews the utility of earth observation space technology for detecting, mapping and managing ice hazards. It was prepared under the auspices of the Disaster Management Support Group (DMSG) of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) by an international working group composed of representatives with experience in remote sensing as applied in the production of operational ice guidance products and services.

Ad Hoc Format Working Group

The ad hoc format working group discussed issues surrounding using ESRI shapefile format as an archive format. This work resulted in the SIGRID-3 standard. A summary of the format discussion is available.

ECDIS News

As a result of the Ice in ECDIS Workshop held in St. John's, Newfoundland, in June 2000, a revised specification for ice objects has been produced. Version 3.0 of the ECDIS Ice Objects (Microsoft Word, approximately 140 K) is available.

This work has been led and resourced by John Falkingham and Dan Fequet of the Canadian Ice Service, and your support is crucial if ice information is to become available and usable in ECDIS & ECS. The revised specification was also sent to the IHO and WMO. A report on the "Ice in ECDIS" workshop is also available from the Canadian Ice Service. (Information provided by T.V. Evangelatos, 6-Apr-01).

Collaboration Opportunities

Watch this space for opportunities for collaboration with the ice services, and new projects of interest to the ice services.

Sea Ice Analysis and Forecasting at NMI

Ice Science and Development at NIC

IceCam Results
The IceCam is an environmental data/visual monitoring system used at Scott Polar Research Institute. It provides visual ground truth information for interpreting satellite images. View results from the cruise of the RV Jan Mayen in the Greenland Sea. (Provided by Richard Hall, February 2001)

NIC Ice Analyst Job Qualification Requirements

Detailed Requirements for the Position of Ice Analyst at the U.S. National/Naval Ice Center (Microsoft Word, approximately 140 K)

Ice Forecasting Models

An Inventory and Description of Ice Forecasting Models at Ice Centers (Microsoft Word, approximately 1 MB)
This document contains information on models at the U.S. National Ice Center, the Canadian Ice Center, the Finnish Ice Center, the Danish Meteorological Institute, and the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. (Provided by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, February 2001)

Ice Chart Data Attributes

This table was updated in August, 2005, by F. Fetterer, using information gathered at the IICWG V meeting, Hamburg, Germany, and in October 2005.

Ice Service	Analysis chart frequency	Analysis or GIS system used	Operational product format
Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, Russia	Weekly, bi-weekly, and daily regional Arctic charts. Antarctic charts are available at various frequencies while supporting the AARI R/V.	Analysis: ERDAS, ESRI ARCInfo. Chart production: ArcInfo, ARCView	Shapefile, SIGRID, GIF, national vector CONTOUR-2
Argentine Navy Hydrographic Service
Canadian Ice Service	CIS produces three types of charts: Daily analysis ice charts at scale of 1:2M are produced for southern regions in the winter and northern regions in the summer to support shipping activities, for each satellite image. Image analysis ice charts are produced for the same regions and time of year as daily ice charts. Weekly regional ice charts at scale of 1:4M are produced covering all Canadian ice-encumbered waters.	All charts are produced with a custom ISIS system based on ArcInfo for charts and Imagine for imagery.	All charts are produced in .E00, pdf and GIF format; and are available freely on the CIS Web site
China, State Oceanic Administration
Danish Meteorological Institute	Weekly chart covers all Greenland waters. Navigational charts are produced depending on season and users requirements.	Analysis: ERDAS Imagine Chart production: ESRI ArcView (Polygons with SIGRID attributes)	ESRI coverage format files
Finnish Ice Service	Daily during the Baltic Sea ice season (October-May). SST twice a week. On Mondays simplified ice and SST chart at http://ice.fmi.fi/tilanne.html.	Analysis: Icemap	Charts are saved in .postscript format Charts send to icebreakers, ships, and other platforms are in .ice, .pdf, or .tif format
Germany, Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH), Ice Service	Baltic: 2 times a week Western Baltic - North Sea: 3 times a week	SQL data base. Point obs since1940. Grid of Western Baltic since 1963.	Adobe PDF files
Icelandic Meteorological Office	Variable (charts from Icelandic Coast Guard)
Japan Meteorological Agency	Daily bulletin Charts every 5 days?
Norwegian Meteorological Institute	Every weekday: covering eastern Greenland to east Barents Sea. ~1 a week: High resolution chart covering Svalbard. Every weekday: SST analysis.	PCI,IDL Easi/Pace ESRI ArcView	Encapsulated PostScript (eps) format chart TIFF format chart, and PDF
Sweden (SMHI)	Daily ice charts for the period (approx) 25 Nov - 25 May, otherwise SST charts twice a week.	Icemap software (developed by VTT, Finland) Joint system BSH-FIMR-SMHI	TIFF, Postscript, Icemap GRID
Poland (IMGW)	Polish coast and Baltic Sea 2-3 times a week
U.S. National Ice Center: Analysis Products (updated Oct 2005 per P. Seymour)
	1. Twice per month ice analysis charts of the Arctic and Antarctic. The Arctic analysis is done on the weeks during which the 1st and the 15th of the month fall. If there are two weeks between the 1st and 15th, then the Arctic analysis will be completed three times during that month. Each analysis is produced as both a black and white and color version. The black and white version depicts ice conditions using the WMO egg code. The color version is based on total concentration and also depicts WMO code eggs. The JPEG charts can encompass a whole sea (e.g.. Beaufort Sea) or part of a sea (e.g. North Greenland). The .e00 coverage is based on nominal geographic boundaries of seas. The coverages that correspond to the individual JPEG charts (e.g. Bering West, Bering East and Kamchatka) are joined together into a complete sea (e.g. Bering Sea). An ASCII text metadata file describing the imagery used in the analyses is included for the East Arctic and the West Arctic. 2. Each week (beginning Summer 2001) a Northern Hemisphere .e00 Analysis or Southern Hemisphere .e00 analysis will be placed on the WWW site. 3. The Alaskan regional analysis (Beaufort, Chukchi and Bering Seas, Cook Inlet and the High Arctic West 1 and 2 areas) is completed at least once a week all year. The Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort Seas and the Cook Inlet are analyzed twice per week, on Tuesdays and Fridays when there is an ice edge present. The Tuesday chart which falls on the 1st and 15th of the month will be part of the hemispheric coverage for that week. 4. Once per week ice analysis of the Great Lakes. This is produced on Thursdays. The NIC hosts the Great Lakes .gif chart and the .e00 coverage produced by the Canadian Ice Service on Mondays. 5. Ice analyses of the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay region are produced at least weekly when there is ice present. 6. Ice analyses of the Ross Sea are produced at least every other week but are done weekly during the austral summer navigation season.		JPEG Graphic Format and .e00 ESRI Format
	Each week (beginning Summer 2001) a Northern Hemisphere Analysis or a Southern Hemispheric Analysis in Shapefile (SIGRID 3 Archive) format will be placed on the WWW site by the end of the week		SHAPE Format
	Daily ice edges of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres are produced in ASCII format.		ASCII Text Messages
	Weekly Iceberg List. This is comprised of the iceberg name, date of last sighting, latitude and longitude of last sighting, current size and the imagery source type used for the last sighting. This list encompasses the icebergs currently being tracked.		Microsoft Word Format
	Spreadsheet of all icebergs tracked by the National Ice Center. The spreadsheets are divided by the quadrant of the Southern hemisphere where the iceberg originated and then by individual iceberg.		Microsoft Excel Format
U.S. National Ice Center: Forecast Products
	1. 30 Day Forecasts for the Arctic. Issued Monthly on or about the 1st of the month and valid the 1st of the following month. 2. 30 Day Forecasts for the North American Arctic area is issued for the period July through December unless the ice cover does not require the forecasts. These forecasts are comprised of jpeg format graphics and a text section. They are produced as North American Ice Service products jointly by the NIC and the CIS. 3. 30 Day Forecasts for the Great Lakes are issued near the 1st of December through March. 4. A Long Range Outlook for the Great Lakes is issued near the 1st of December.		GIF Format
	1. Seasonal Outlooks for the East and West Arctic. Issued during the last week in May as a North American Ice Service product. Produced jointly by the CIS and the NIC. 2. Seasonal Outlook for the Ross Sea and McMurdo Sound. Issued in late October in support of the re-supply of McMurdo station.		Microsoft Word Format

Ice Service Climatological Products

The table below gives a quick overview of products that may be useful in evaluating climatological trends in sea ice cover. Contact the ice services directly for more information.

Ice Service	Climatological products produced by the ice service	Contributions to the Global Digital Sea Ice Data Bank? (Note - may not include holdings at AARI)
Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute	Numerous, though not always available as digital databases. For example, probability of ice formation for Black, Caspian, and Azov Seas. Mean (and many other statistics) total concentration by decade, 1950-1990, on AARI GDSIDB Web page.	1950-1993 in SIGRID (at AARI) 1953-1990 in EASE-Grid (at NSIDC or AARI) Chart every 10 days
Argentine Navy Hydrographic Service	Data base of point observations back to the1970s or earlier	1998-2000, point observations in NIC-code in .db format (like the attribute table for a shape file?) Ongoing contributions planned.
Austrialia (ASPeCt Project)		Not now, but data for 1980-1997 planned. In ASPeCt data base format.
Canadian Ice Service	Climatic Ice Atlases showing 30-year median of ice concentration (1968-1998) for Hudson Bay, East Arctic, West Arctic and Canadian east coast in GIF format on CIS Web site http://ice-glaces.ec.gc.ca/App/WsvPageDsp.cfm?ID=10950&Lang=eng Other statistical products have been produced for some regions and are not available on our Web site yet; they include: Climate charts products 30 year median of predominant ice type (1971-2000) 30 year frequency of presence of sea ice (1971-2000) 30 year frequency of presence of old ice (1971-2000) same types as above but for 10 year periods dates of freeze-up and break-up prototype anomaly charts showing departures from normal conditions for concentration and ice type; also used for interdecadal comparisons Bar graphs and trends weekly extents and coverages (weekly coverage can be used as chart severity index) total accumulated coverages for a season (used to compare severity of ice seasons from 1968 to 2000); a variant is total accumulated old ice length of seasons for all years (start of season defined as when ice reaches a threshold value) minimum and maximum ice coverages Several publications on sea ice climatology in Canadian waters have been produced; our latest publication is Sea Ice Climatic Atlas - East Coast of Canada - 1971-2000.	1968-1998 in SIGRID. Some earlier data in SIGRID. 1968-1998 in ESRI .e00 format files as well, with SIGRID attributes (15' resolution). Ongoing contributions planned.
China, State Oceanic Administration	Maximum annual extent for the Bohai Sea, 1952-present.	(To be submitted before 2001 mtg) Total and partial concentrations, stages of development on 0.1 degree grid, 1968 to present.
Danish Meteorological Institute		Sample chart from 1990 in original (?) gridded format, available from AARI. Ongoing contributions (starting with 1999) planned.
Finland Institute of Marine Research, Finnish Ice Service	Many climatologies, atlases, and statistics on Baltic sea ice dating back to 1719 are available from the Baltic Sea Now site. One example: image showing classification of maximum extent of ice in Baltic Sea 1720-1995, characterized as extremely mild to extremely severe. See Note 1. Digital ice charts from 1994 on. On-line narrative summary characterizing winter conditions, with graphic of maximum ice extent (Hard copies back to 1915. Back to season 1995/96 also in http://ice.fmi.fi/main_uk.html).	Baltic sea ice meeting country - charts contributed as a group. SIGRID format (twice a week) 1960-1986. Postcript format charts 1994 on. EASE-Grid available from AARI. Ongoing contributions planned.
Germany, Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH), Ice Service	On-line narrative summary of ice winter on German coast and in Baltic Sea area (from 98/99) with images of maximum extent charts. Ice observations at the German coast between Ems and Oder since 1955.	Baltic sea ice meeting country - charts contributed as a group. (See Finland entry for more information).
Icelandic Meteorological Office		Not now, but would like to per T. Jakobsson, 10/99
Japan Meteorological Agency		SIGRID format charts 1971-1993. SIGRID-2 format charts 1994-1999 (Every 5 days). EASE-Grid available from AARI.
Norwegian Meteorological Institute	Monthly charts of the ice edge. The charts are based on weekly ice edge data and indicate max, mean, and min ice extent for a month.	Plan to contribute SIGRID-3 format charts.
Sweden (SMHI)	Ice statistics for fairway sections from 1870. Ice atlas for entire Baltic covering period 1960-1979 (joint SMHI-FIMR), Also available in digital format (BASIS and SIGRID). Icemap GRID for entire Baltic (twice a week) available from Feb 1998.	Baltic sea ice meeting country - charts contributed as a group. Planned contributions: Delivery of Icemap GRID data period 1998-1999 to AARI for conversion into SIGRID format (Oct 2000). Delivery of Icemap GRID data remaining period 1980-1997 (autumn 2002).
Poland (IMGW)	Summary of ice winter on Polish coast (from 1984/85) with maximum extent charts. Data Bank of daily ice and meteorological observations along the Polish coast since 1955, seasonal data on winter ice conditions from 1896/97Baltic Sea Ice Meeting	Baltic Sea Ice Meeting
U.S. National Ice Center	Average coverage and extent in sq. kilometers, by week of the year, for 1972-1994, 1998, and 1999, for regions of Arctic, and Antarctic. Archive of all chart products and climatology in ArcInfo, SIGRID, and EASE-Grid formats on the Environmental Working Group Joint U.S.-Russian Arctic Sea Ice Atlas at http://nsidc.org/data/g01962.html	1972-1994 in SIGRID, EASE-Grid on EWG CD-ROM Atlas Ongoing contributions planned, format TBD. Current data are available as ESRI e00 and gif files.

Trends in Ice Cover from Ice Service Products (DRAFT)

Note to ice services from Florence Fetterer: I hope we can use this section to showcase, with graphical examples, some of the analyses that ice service products are used for. I'm looking for images that show, at a glance, changes in ice conditions over time. CIS's Richard Chagnon has provided the first draft examples. I hope that we can add many additional examples.