The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) has released Version 2 of the Canadian Ice Service Arctic Regional Sea Ice Charts in SIGRID-3 Format data set. The ice charts have information on ice concentration, stage of development, and ice form. This new version extends the data record from 1 January 2006 back to 25 June 1968 through the present at a weekly temporal resolution.
The main changes in Version 2 include the following:
- Version 2 adds data back to 1968 and replaces the 2006-2020 Version 1 data files.
- The Version 2 1968-2020 segment of the chart data has been extensively quality controlled by Canadian Ice Service analysts.
- Data prior to 2006 were converted to SIGRID-3.
- All charts prior to 2020 were reprojected using the WGS84 datum to be consistent with newer charts.
- Charts from 2021 to present are identical to the Version 1 charts. In a future update, these charts will be QC’d and replaced.
Find detailed information about these changes and access the data and citation information here:
https://nsidc.org/data/g02171/versions/2
Note that the older version of this data set (Version 1) will be retired on 30 October 2026. Version 1 data will remain available until that date. Please update any scripts accessing the old (V1) data location (https://noaadata.apps.nsidc.org/NOAA/G02171/) to the new (V2) location (https://noaadata.apps.nsidc.org/NOAA/G02171_V2) by that time.
Data set DOI: https://doi.org/10.7265/9nbn-6a46