About CIS Digital Archive (CISDA) - Regional Charts

The CIS Digital Archive - Regional Charts collection consists of weekly Regional Ice Analysis Charts from 1968 to present in ArcGIS format. The paper charts from 1968 to 1998 were digitized in ArcGIS format and the dataset is updated in real-time. All charts for the Canadian Eastern and Western Arctic, the Hudson Bay, the East Coast of Canada, and the Great Lakes can be downloaded with the on-line charts interface.

This dataset constitutes the climate database used in the production of the 3 CIS ice atlases and real-time climate variability products below. The dataset was also used for various scientific papers.

About the Climatic Ice Atlases

The CISDA - Regional Charts dataset was used in the production of 3 climatic ice atlases below for all Canadian waters. The atlases are available on-line as well as in printed format.

Sea Ice Climatic Atlas - East Coast of Canada 1971-2000

The ice years 1970-1971 through 1999-2000 have been used for this publication that covers a climatic time period of 30 years, the WMO standard for representing statistical averages and extremes.

Sea Ice Climatic Atlas - Northern Canadian Waters 1971-2000

The products presented in this atlas were obtained from a statistical compilation of the CISDA-Regional Charts for the years 1971 to 2000.

Separate regional charts are produced for Western Arctic, Eastern Arctic and Hudson Bay. These have been merged in this atlas to provide a pictorial representation of climatic sea ice conditions in Northern Canadian waters as a whole.

Also note that the regional charts were prepared in an operation setting to support shipping activities and are subject to some limitations. They are not available on a weekly basis throughout the year but only during the operations season i.e. from June to November. However, since 1980 winter charts have been produced on a monthly basis. This reduced winter set has been used to produce winter statistical products.

Sea Ice Climatic Ice Atlas - Great Lakes 1973-2002

This atlas uses the CISDA-Regional Charts from 1973-2002. Regional charts were not regularly produced before December 1972. To obtain a 30 year climatic period, this lake ice atlas includes the 1973 to 2002 winter seasons.

As part of a joint United States-Canada initiative, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (NOAA GLERL) has digitized the paper charts from the Canadian Ice Service (CIS) and the US National Ice Center (NIC). Note that the data used in this atlas for the period 1973-2000 is based on digitized regional charts from CIS (1973-1996) and the National Ice Center (1996-2000) provided by GLERL.

About the Climatic Variability Products and Ice Graph Tool

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.

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.

While the Departure from Normal Total Concentration charts show where ice concentration lows and highs specifically occur in each of the five regional chart regions, the Ice Cover bargraphs present this information as a numeric average graphed over the entire region and are useful for identifying trends in ice concentrations over time.

Ice Graph On-line tool

In addition to the standard Ice Cover products above, a web version of the Ice Graph Tool used to generate the products is now available on the web. With this tool, the user will be able to generate ice cover products for other regions as well as other types of products.

Other On-line Climatic Products

The climatic products below are also available on-line.

Regional Medians

30 Year Median of Ice Concentration charts can be downloaded free of charge for the Eastern Arctic, Western Arctic, and Hudson Bay. These charts are derived from Total Concentration of Ice values taken from the CISDA – Regional Charts on a weekly basis and describe ice conditions over a 30 year WMO statistical period.

Seasonal Summaries

Seasonal Summaries can be downloaded free of charge in PDF format for the Canadian Arcitc, Great Lakes, and Eastern Canadian Waters. These documents provide a post-seasonal summary of prevailing ice conditions and related weather.

Annual Arctic Ice Atlas

The Annual Arctic Ice Atlas is part of a continuing series, prepared each year since 1990. These atlases, along with earlier programs, document Arctic winter ice conditions with SAR (synthetic aperture radar) imagery back to 1986/ 87. The main objective in compiling these atlases is to maintain a climatological archive of winter ice conditions, to provide a clearer understanding of variations in Arctic ice regimes both geographically and seasonally.