JCOMM EXPERT TEAM ON SEA ICE (ETSI) Second Session STEERING GROUP FOR THE GLOBAL DIGITAL SEA ICE DATA BANK (GDSIDB) Tenth Session Hamburg, Germany, 15-17 April 2004 FINAL REPORT JCOMM Meeting Report No. 28 WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION INTERGOVERNMENTAL OCEANOGRAPHIC COMMISSION (OF UNESCO) _____________ ___________ JCOMM EXPERT TEAM ON SEA ICE (ETSI) SECOND SESSION STEERING GROUP FOR THE GLOBAL DIGITAL SEA ICE DATA BANK (GDSIDB) TENTH SESSION Hamburg, Germany 15-17 April 2004 FINAL REPORT JCOMM Meeting Report No. 28 N O T E The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariats of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (of UNESCO), and the World Meteorological Organization concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. C O N T E N T S Report ............................................................................................................................................. 1 Annex I - List of Participants ......................................................................................................... 17 Annex II - Agenda ......................................................................................................................... 19 Annex III - ETSI Chairman Report ................................................................................................ 20 Annex IV - Nomenclature OMM des Glaces en Mer (French version).......................................... 29 Annex V - OMM Nomenclatura Hielo Marino (Spanish version)................................................... 42 Annex VI - WMO Sea Ice Nomenclature (updated version) ......................................................... 56 Annex VII - WMO Glossary on Sea Ice Cover (new version)........................................................ 61 Annex VIII - Ice Chart Colour Code Standard............................................................................... 74 Annex IX - Property Changes of First-year Ice and Old Ice during Summer Melt......................... 86 Annex X - Data Collection Program on Ice Regimes .................................................................. 135 Annex XI - Work Plan of the Expert Team on Sea Ice................................................................ 145 Annex XII - Work Plan of the Steering Group for the Global Digital Sea Ice Data ..................... 150 Annex XIII - Register Structure and Registration Process for an IHO Object Register............... 153 List of Acronyms and Other Abbreviations.................................................................................. 164 Group Photo................................................................................................................................ 166 GENERAL SUMMARY OF THE WORK OF THE MEETING 1. Opening of the session 1.1 Opening 1.1.1 The second session of the Joint WMO/IOC Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM) Expert Team on Sea Ice (ETSI) and the tenth session of the Steering Group for the Global Digital Sea Ice Data Bank (GDSIDB) were opened at 09:30 hours on Thursday, 15 April 2004, in the German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) by Dr Vasily Smolyanitsky, chairman of the ETSI. Dr Smolyanitsky welcomed participants and called on Dr Klaus Strübing to address the meeting on behalf of the Director of the German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency. Dr K. Strübing wished the participants a pleasant stay in Hamburg along with fruitful working days. 1.1.2 On behalf of the Secretary-General of WMO, Mr Michel Jarraud, and the Executive Secretary IOC, Dr P. Bernal, the Secretariat representative also welcomed participants to the meeting. He expressed the very sincere appreciation of WMO and IOC to the German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency and especially to the local organizer of the meeting, Mr K.Strübing, for hosting this meeting and for providing friendly and stimulating working conditions for the participants. The Secretariat representative then outlined the objectives and importance of the meeting. He assured participants of the full support of the Secretariat, both during the meeting and in the future, and he concluded by wishing all participants very fruitful deliberations in this important meeting. 1.1.3 The list of participants in the meeting is given in Annex I. 1.2 Adoption of the agenda 1.2.1 The meeting adopted the agenda for the sessions on the basis of the corrected provisional agenda prepared by the Secretariat. This agenda is given in Annex II. 1.3 Working arrangements 1.3.1 The meeting agreed its hours of work and other practical session arrangements. The documentation for the meeting was introduced by the Secretariat. 2. FIRST SESSION OF THE JCOMM ETSI 2.1 Report by the Chairman of the ETSI 2.1.1 The meeting noted with interest and appreciation a report (Annex III) by the chairman of the Expert Team on Sea Ice (ETSI), regarding the present status and effectiveness of its activities during the intersessional period since the last meeting (Buenos Aires, October 2002), and plans for the future. This report outlined the main activities so far within the overall team as well as the main results of the ETSI first session. 2.1.2 The meeting noted that substantial progress had been made in the implementation of the previous work plan, which includes revision of the current version of the WMO Sea Ice Nomenclature with a Glossary on Sea Ice Cover (WMO-No. 259, TP.145, 1970) in English, French, Russian and Spanish to be used in an electronic form, development of an updated version of that document, new standards for sea ice charts, including colour coding, new formats for operational and historical sea ice mapped data exchange, revision of the WMO publication Sea Ice Information Services in the World (WMO-No.574, 2000) and productive collaboration with the International Ice Charting Working Group (IICWG) and the Baltic Sea Ice Meeting (BSIM). - 2 - 2.1.3 The meeting was informed that the International Meeting “Cooperation for the International Polar Year 2007–2008 (IPY 2007/2008) was held at the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in St Petersburg, 22-23 January 2004. Forty experts including representatives of the international organizations and programmes and scientists from national polar institutes participated in the meeting. 2.1.4 The Meeting noted with appreciation that ETSI, in collaboration with IICWG, provided draft requirements for sea ice observations as a part of a White Paper on “An International Collaborative Effort Towards Automated Sea Ice Chart Production”, attached in Annex III of the Chairman’s report. 2.2 Reports by the members of ETSI 2.2.1 The session reviewed ETSI member's reports from Argentina, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Russia, Sweden, UK and USA. Report from the USA National Ice Center 2.2.2 Mr M. Seymour provided information on sea ice activities in the USA carried out by the National Ice Center (NIC). In that context, the session was informed that the NIC has routinely produced maps of sea ice conditions since 1952. Using visible and infrared (NOAA AVHRR and DMSP OLS), SAR (Radarsat), scatterometer (QuikScat) and passive microwave (DMSP SSM/I) imagery, bi-weekly charts are produced of all ice covered regions of the Arctic and Antarctic, and at least weekly for all ice covered seas continuous to the United States and twice weekly charts of the Alaskan and Great Lakes regions. These charts are made available free on the web (http://www.natice.noaa.gov). Tailored support is also available to qualified users, to include annotated imagery support, upon request. 2.2.3 The session noted with appreciation that in the intersessional period, NIC provided tailored support to a number of national and international users. Progress was made on the development of a computer based training system for ice analysis, working with the Canadian Ice Service and Noetix Corp. Modules currently in production include Remote Sensing (SSM/I), Geography and Climatology. Proposed future modules include WMO Ice Code, Interactive Ice Analysis and Ice Forecasting. 2.2.4 The meeting was informed that NIC continued to refine efforts into developing a more robust plan for continuity of operations to specifically address homeland security threats and catastrophic facilities and communications failures. The NIC has made several provisions for creation of ice products and delivery of services from an off-site location, and Radarsat emergency ordering procedures were solidified. 2.2.5 During the intersessional period, the NIC implemented the SSM/I NASA Team 2 algorithm for operational use and has fully integrated QuikScat scatterometer imagery into the ice analysis process. The NIC is now investigating the use of SEAWINDS passive microwave data and is awaiting data from Cryosat and ALOS data in 2004. 2.2.6 The meeting noted that much progress was related to development of a new Sea Ice Mapping System (SIMS). The NIC has fully integrated the SIPAS ice analysis system into the operations environment. A new dissemination system and World Wide Web page featuring the ability for users to define their own shape-file based analysis charts is being rolled out during the spring of 2004. 2.2.7 The meeting noted with interest and appreciation the information on the Polar Ice Prediction System (PIPS 3.0), which will