3.3 Sea ice data

Lead Authors: Jennifer Lukovich (University of Manitoba), Stephen Howell (CRD/ECCC), Alex Crawford (University of Manitoba)

Contributors: Emilia Diaconescu (CCCS/ECCC), Ryan Hennessey (CCCS/ECCC), Paul Kushner (University of Toronto), Jack Landy (Bristol University), Lindsay Mattews (CCCS/ECCC)

3.3.1 Introduction

Sea ice is an important feature in northern Canada. It consists of seasonal ice that forms and melts each year (referred to as first-year ice) and ice that is present all-year round (referred to as multi-year ice).

3.3.2 Sea ice concentration

Sea ice concentration is defined as the fraction of ocean covered with sea ice and is typically measured in tenths or as a percent.

3.3.3 Sea Ice Thickness

Sea ice thickness is the result of cumulative thermodynamic and dynamic processes that change the sea ice cover depth and distribution (Thorndike et al., 1975, Stroeve and Notz, 2018, Kwok, 2018).

3.3.4 Sea Ice Drift

Sea ice motion is provided through zonal (east-west) and meridional (north-south) vector components to describe movement in the sea ice cover.

3.3.5 Other Data Portals

Local sea ice information can be supplemented with in-situ measurements such as are found through the Polar Data Catalogue (PDC), SIKU, and Smart-ICE initiatives.