Bulletins provide advice on present or forecast ice or iceberg conditions in simple text format. The following bulletins are available free of charge from the Canadian Ice Service Web site (to view them, please go to our Ice Conditions section):

• Daily Ice Hazard Bulletins
• Daily Iceberg Bulletins
• Daily St.Lawrence River Ice Bulletins
• Seasonal Outlooks
• 30-Day Ice Forecast Bulletins

Daily Ice Hazard Bulletins (top)

These bulletins describe the ice edge and hazards in the region and provide a 24-hour forecast of hazardous ice conditions. They may also include an ice warning.

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Produced by CIS meteorologists, they integrate all known ice distribution, weather and oceanographic conditions that will affect the ice over the next 24 hours. Daily ice hazard warning bulletins are particularly important to mariners and shipping agencies requiring highly accurate information on ice conditions that could affect their operations.

Daily Iceberg Bulletin (top)

The Daily Iceberg Bulletin describes the known iceberg limit in Canada's East Coast waters, based on data gathered from ship reports and iceberg reconnaissance flights.

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Produced by CIS meteorologists, it provides the latitude and longitude coordinates of points along the iceberg limit, as well as general information on iceberg and growler conditions within the limit. The Daily Iceberg Bulletin is used by the Canadian Coast Guard, mariners, shipping agencies and others requiring highly accurate information on conditions that could affect marine safety.

Daily St. Lawrence River Ice Bulletins (top)

These bulletins describe general ice conditions for the St. Lawrence River from Montreal to Cabot Strait. For shorter sections of the river, they provide detailed information on conditions in terms of ice type and concentration. They may recommend a particular shipping route, depending on conditions.

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Prepared by Ice Service Specialists based in Quebec City, they integrate all current information on ice conditions in the region, as well as weather conditions that will affect the ice during the period.

These bulletins are used primarily by the Canadian Coast Guard, mariners and shipping agencies to help plan their operations and routes.

Seasonal Outlooks (top)

These publications give an indication of the expected pattern of breakup and freeze-up of ice in a given region. They identify areas when breakup freeze-up are likely to occur, with an emphasis on areas where ship navigation and other marine activities occur.

Seasonal outlooks are available in PDF format, and are developed through the analysis of the meteorological and ice growth regimes. They include, among other things, weather charts and ice-coverage charts, as well as tables or maps describing the forecast breakup or freeze-up.

30-Day Ice Forecast Bulletins (Top)

These bulletins describe the advance or retreat of ice in the region over a 30-day period. They also describe ice thickness and identify areas and time periods in which conditions are expected to be more or less favourable than normal. They are issued on the first business day following the 1^st and 15^th of each month.

Each bulletin is issued by the CIS in text format. In addition, the Hudson Bay and Approaches, Eastern Arctic, Western Arctic, and Great Lakes bulletins are also issued by the North American Ice Service (NAIS) in a graphic PDF format.

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These bulletins help shipping agencies, resource exploration companies and others plan their marine operations up to 30 days in advance.

The forecast of the ice regime is developed by comparing water temperatures and meteorological parameters (as well as oceanographical parameters for all regions except the Great Lakes) over the past 30 days with those of past years, and then applying a 30-day forecast for temperatures.

Questions?

For more information on these products or any other CIS products or services, please contact us at cis-scg.client@ec.gc.ca.

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Last Updated: 2003-05-07

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