Archive Overview

As home of the Canadian Ice Service Archive (CISA), we manage a vast collection of historical ice data that is updated daily. We draw upon this data to meet the specific needs of our clients.

Why Do We Maintain an Ice Archive?
We do it for different reasons, namely:

  • Climate studies: historical ice data can serve a wide variety of scientific and commercial purposes, such as general research efforts, planning activities, ship design, and so on.
  • Legal purposes: we also maintain records for legal purposes. Our ice information can be useful, for instance, in the case of investigations following shipping accidents, insurance purposes, etc.
  • Other uses: Planning for re-supply activities, tourism, fishing, environmental impact studies, and engineering studies for the construction of facilities (bridges, harbours, drilling platforms) in ice-covered waters.

What Kind of Information Do We Keep?
The Canadian Ice Service Archive includes data in various forms:

  • Ice and iceberg charts in several types of media (paper, microfilm, and digital formats);
  • A large collection of aircraft and satellite imagery; and
  • Bulletins and other text documents.

Access to the On-line Canadian Ice Service Archive Data
Currently only the collections below are accessible on-line:

Available On-line: View an Example
Daily Ice Analysis Charts (since 1999)
access on-line charts		 Daily Ice Analysis Chart Example
Regional Ice Analysis Charts
access on-line charts		 Regional Ice Analysis Chart Example
Weekly Ice Thickness and On-Ice Snow Depth Measurements for Canadian Stations
access on-line measurements

Note that the Regional Ice Analysis Charts are available in both .E00 and .Gif formats.

Off-line Archive Data
The Canadian Ice Service Archive also hosts several other collections off-line such as:

  • Daily Analysis Charts (BW since 1999 also available on-line)
  • Regional Ice Analysis Charts (BW Gif and .e00 also Available Online!)
  • Daily Iceberg Analysis Charts
  • Image Analysis Charts
  • Observation Charts
  • Historical Ice Charts
  • Ice forecast bulletins

Contact Us
For information and to place an order for data from off-line collections please contact the Canadian Ice Service using the contact information below.

Client Services
Canadian Ice Service
373 Sussex Drive
Block E,3rd floor
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada K1A 0H3

Telephone: (613) 996-1550 or toll-free in Canada: 1-800-767-2885
Fax: (613) 947-9160
E-Mail: cis-scg.client@ec.gc.ca