CANADIAN ICE SERVICE DIGITAL ARCHIVE – REGIONAL CHARTS: CANADIAN ICE SERVICE ICE REGIME REGIONS (CISIRR) AND SUB- REGIONS WITH ASSOCIATED DATA QUALITY INDICES CIS Archive Documentation Series No. 3 March 2007 CISDA – Regional Charts: Canadian Ice Service Ice Regime Regions (CISIRR) and Sub- regions with Associated Data Quality Indices PAGE LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK Canadian Ice Service ii CISDA – Regional Charts: Canadian Ice Service Ice Regime Regions (CISIRR) and Sub- regions with Associated Data Quality Indices Revision History April 2006 • Original document. September 2006 • Formatted fro CIS Digital Archive Series. March 2007 • Addition of sub-regions cwa05_03 and cea12_03. • Modifcations to cwa01_02, cwa01_03, cwa05_01, and cea12_02. • Text, graphics and tables modified accordingly. Canadian Ice Service iii CISDA – Regional Charts: Canadian Ice Service Ice Regime Regions (CISIRR) and Sub- regions with Associated Data Quality Indices PAGE LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK Canadian Ice Service iv CISDA – Regional Charts: Canadian Ice Service Ice Regime Regions (CISIRR) and Sub- regions with Associated Data Quality Indices Acknowledgements This document and the Ice Regime Regions could not have been completed without the input and advice from a number of individuals including: Bea Alt, Adrienne Tivy, Steve Howell, Tom Agnew, Tom Carrieres, Greg Crocker, Richard Chagnon, Bernard Miville, Sharon Jeffers, John Falkingham, Rick Power, Claude Dicaire, Katherine Wilson, Roger de Abreu, Humphrey Melling, Allain Cardinal, Gilles Langis and others not specifically mentioned Special acknowledgement goes to Steve McCourt who put this document together and Bea Alt for her valuable contribution to the content of this document. Canadian Ice Service v CISDA – Regional Charts: Canadian Ice Service Ice Regime Regions (CISIRR) and Sub- regions with Associated Data Quality Indices PAGE LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK Canadian Ice Service vi CISDA – Regional Charts: Canadian Ice Service Ice Regime Regions (CISIRR) and Sub- regions with Associated Data Quality Indices Executive Summary This document is written with the intention of providing a set of standard regions and sub-regions that represent unique ice regimes. A number of applications have been outlined and include: • CIS area calculations (semi-real-time evaluations of ice conditions). • Climate change monitoring. • Model validation. • Canadian Long-range Ice Forecast (CLIF) program research. • Climate Change Action Fund (CCAF) Northwest Passage project baseline. • Quality Assessment (time series homogeneity) of CIS Digital Archive. • Identification of unique features of ice regime for short range forecast modeling. • Comparison of ice conditions with other cryospheric and climate parameters. • Background for process research. Every identified region and sub-region is described in its entirety and includes the following information: • Name. • Points (including start and end points for enclosure of the boundary). • Description (including named geographic entities). • Discussion (including rationale for boundaries and references to previous schema). A set of quality indices are presented to give an overall impression of the reliability of the sea ice information contained within each region and sub-region which are based upon information culled from a number of sources. The exact geographic coordinates expressed in latitude and longitude for every enclosed area are presented in tabular format in Appendices 1 and 2. Canadian Ice Service vii CISDA – Regional Charts: Canadian Ice Service Ice Regime Regions (CISIRR) and Sub- regions with Associated Data Quality Indices PAGE LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK Canadian Ice Service viii CISDA – Regional Charts: Canadian Ice Service Ice Regime Regions (CISIRR) and Sub- regions with Associated Data Quality Indices Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction................................................................................................................................1 1.1 Purpose ................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Applications........................................................................................................................... 1 1.3 Organisation of Report .......................................................................................................... 1 1.4 Methodology.......................................................................................................................... 2 1.4.1 General Definition .......................................................................................................... 2 1.4.2 Naming Conventions...................................................................................................... 2 1.4.3 Defining Boundaries....................................................................................................... 3 1.4.4 Conventions and Abbreviations Used in the Region by Region Discussion ................. 4 2.0 Region and Sub-region Definitions............................................................................................ 5 2.1 CIS WA Beaufort Sea ........................................................................................................... 5 2.1.1 CIS WA Beaufort Sea: Alaska ....................................................................................... 6 2.1.2 CIS WA Beaufort Sea: Mackenzie................................................................................. 6 2.1.3 CIS WA Beaufort Sea: Banks ........................................................................................ 6 2.1.4 CIS WA Beaufort Sea: Prince Alfred ............................................................................. 7 2.1.5 CIS WA Beaufort Sea: Canada Basin ........................................................................... 7 2.2 TEST EA-WA Arctic Ocean Periphery .................................................................................. 8 2.2.1 TEST EA Arctic Ocean Periphery: East......................................................................... 9 2.2.2 TEST WA Arctic Ocean Periphery: West..................................................................... 10 2.3 CIS EA-WA Western High Arctic......................................................................................... 10 2.3.1 TEST WA Western High Arctic: Kellett – Crozier ........................................................ 12 2.3.2 TEST WA Western High Arctic: Ballantyne – Hazen................................................... 12 2.3.3 TEST WA Western High Arctic: Gustaf Adolf .............................................................. 12 2.3.4 TEST WA Western High Arctic: Byam Martin.............................................................. 13 2.3.5 TEST WA Western High Arctic: KCI West................................................................... 13 2.3.6 TEST EA Western High Arctic: Peary – Sverdrup....................................................... 13 2.3.7 TEST EA Western High Arctic: KCI East..................................................................... 14 2.3.8 TEST WA Western High Arctic: McDougall................................................................. 15 2.3.9 TEST EA Western High Arctic: Penny......................................................................... 15 2.3.10 TEST EA Western High Arctic: Wellington ................................................................ 16 2.4 CIS WA Western Parry Channel......................................................................................... 16 2.4.1 CIS WA Western Parry Channel: M’Clure ................................................................... 18 2.4.2 CIS WA Western Parry Channel: Viscount Melville..................................................... 18 2.4.3 CIS WA Western Parry Channel: W Barrow................................................................ 18 2.5 CIS WA Western Arctic Waterway...................................................................................... 19 2.5.1 CIS WA Western Arctic Waterway: Amundsen ........................................................... 19 2.5.2 CIS WA Western Arctic Waterway: Coronation – Maud.............................................. 20 2.5.3 CIS WA Western Arctic Waterway: Amundsen Mouth ................................................ 20 2.6 CIS WA M’Clintock Channel ............................................................................................... 20 2.7 CIS WA Franklin.................................................................................................................. 21 2.7.1 CIS WA Franklin: Larsen – Victoria ............................................................................. 21 2.7.2 CIS WA Franklin: Peel Sound...................................................................................... 22 2.8 CIS EA Eastern High Arctic................................................................................................. 22 2.8.1 CIS EA Eastern High Arctic: Eureka – Norwegian Bay ............................................... 23 2.8.2 CIS EA Eastern High Arctic: Jones Sound .................................................................. 23 2.8.3 TEST EA Eastern High Arctic: Eureka......................................................................... 24 2.8.4 TEST EA Eastern High Arctic: Norwegian Bay ........................................................... 24 2.8.5 TEST EA Eastern High Arctic: Hell Gate....................................................................