Services Clients and Partners Directorate

Ice and Marine Services Branch

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Every year, the Ice and Marine Services Branch (IMSB - better known as the Canadian Ice Service) obtains and analyses vast amounts of data covering the Arctic, Hudson Bay, Gulf of St. Lawrence, the East Coast and the Great Lakes. Its team of highly experienced meteorologists, geographers, climatologists, and computer scientists collect, analyse, process and research this data to offer a comprehensive ice information service to Canadians, marine interests, and the Canadian economy.
The mission of the Canadian Ice Service is to provide basic information about ice and icebergs in the major navigable waters of the Canadian economic zone to satisfy two main objectives:

1. to ensure the safety of Canadians, their property and their environment by warning them of hazardous ice conditions and;
2. to provide present and future generations of Canadians with sufficient knowledge about their ice environment to support environmental science and departmental policies.

IMSB provides ice information on past, present and future sea ice, lake ice and iceberg conditions in Canadian waters. This information is provided to the public, government departments and other levels of government to enhance the safety of marine transportation and reduce risks to the environment. Not only, is it an essential consideration in decision-making for marine activities in the vicinity of ice, it is also important in the development and application of policies governing these activities and the effect of ice in the environment including weather, climate and the ocean.

We work closely in partnership with the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) to enhance the safety and efficiency of marine operations in ice-encumbered waters by the provision of ice information to the marine community. This is achieved primarily through information services and by providing scientific and technical expertise which supports the effective operation of the icebreaking program of the CCG.

In addition, our ice information services also support other marine related activities including commercial shipping, fishing, offshore oil and gas, harbour authorities, marine insurance, tourism, environmental assessment and offshore structure construction.

In support of its objectives, IMSB:

• Provides daily ice warnings defining the boundaries of all known ice for active navigable waters.
• Provides ice warning service for ice pressure events within the limit of all known ice.
• Provides a daily iceberg warning service for Canadian waters south of 60N.
• Takes the lead in establishing a framework for marine services issues within Meteorological Service of Canada.
• Produces weekly ice analyses of active ice areas for strategic planning purposes and for inclusion in the Canadian Ice Service Archive (CISA).
• Retains all unique ice data sets for climatological purposes collected by Ice and Marine Services Branch (IMSB) and maintains the Canadian Ice Service Archive (CISA).
• Contributes Canadian ice data to the World Data Centre for Glaciology in Boulder, Colorado.

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