Departure from Normal and a suite of Ice Cover products are produced in real-time with each new regional ice chart. These products can be used to depict the climate variability. Note that the normal used in the Departure from Normal is the median over the 30year period, while the average is used as a normal in the Ice Cover products. The new Ice Graph Tool provides options to display both the median and the average.
Departure from Normal Concentration
Departure from Normal Total Concentration charts are generated by comparing the current regional ice chart for each of the CIS regional areas to its corresponding 30 year median concentration chart.
View the most recent Departure from Normal products
Ice Cover Products
Ice Cover graphs allow users to easily compare the current week’s or season’s ice cover over a region to those of other weeks and years. The products can be used in studies on climate variability and extremes. The products are based on the regional charts and are produced weekly for the Great Lakes, East Coast, Western Arctic, Eastern Arctic and Hudson Bay (please note that during the winter season only the Great Lakes and East Coast products are produced.
For each Regional Chart area, the Canadian Ice Service generates three weekly ice cover graphs:
- Ice Cover Graph - Historical Total Accumulated Ice Coverage: This product presents ice coverage for many seasons with each season expressed as a single value and can be used to compare the severity of one entire season to another.
- Ice Cover Graph - Historical Date Ice Coverage: This product presents ice coverage for a specific date for a range of seasons with each date expressed as a single value and can be used to compare the severity of a specific date in one season to another.
- Ice Cover Graph - Weekly Ice Coverage for the Season: This product presents ice coverage for all dates in a single season with each date expressed as a single value and can be used to examine the progression and severity of the specified season.
View the latest weekly ice graphs for the following regions:
Please note that during the winter season only the Great Lakes and East Coast products are produced.
Ice Graph On-line Tool
In addition to the standard Ice Cover products above, the Ice Graph Tool can be used to generate ice cover products for other regions as well as other types of products.
The Ice Graph tool is an on-line program used to generate ice cover statistics in Canadian waters for a number of pre-defined areas such as the CISIRR areas (Canadian Ice Service Ice Regime Regions and Sub-regions), the Regional Charts areas and other areas including each of the Great Lakes and the Northwest Passage. The data is based on the Canadian Ice Service Digital Archive - Regional Charts collection. For every available area, information regarding the concentration of various stages of development of ice is extracted from all available Regional Ice Charts in Geographic Information System (GIS) compatible data and summarized in a database that is used by this tool. The final output from the tool is a series of bar graphs depicting ice statistics and trends based on user controlled input.
Learn more about the Ice Graph tool
Try the Ice Graph Tool
