DMI Polar View Service
DMI contributes to the Polar View Service by producing medium resolution ice charts covering the Greenland Waters. The charts are produced on a weekly basis. The charts are published on Mondays using data from the last 36 hours. The primary intended uses of the charts are:
  • Aid in the planning of operational activities
  • Provide general information to the public
  • Input to scientific studies, e.g. climate variability studies
  • Independent validation of automatic products
  • Other national ice services
The chart production is executed using the operational ice charting system at DMI. Each single ice chart is constructed by manual visual interpretation of a large amount of satellite data by experienced ice analysts. Input satellite data consists of:

  • Global mode and wide swath SAR data from ENVISAT and RADARSAT
  • Optical and IR temperature AVHRR data
  • Passive microwave data from DMSP SSM/I
In addition to data from satellites, information about the atmospheric and oceanographic state is used by the ice analysts to aid interpretation. The ice charts contains the following information:
  • Sea ice total concentration (in tenths), and partial concentrations of different ice types
  • Sea ice stage of development, i.e. ice thickness, age, new-ice type formed under different dynamic conditions: pancake or nilas ice
  • Sea ice floe size, the distribution is indicated in different size categories
  • Information about primary satellite source for each polygon, if SAR data cover the area this will be the primary source
  • Quality indicator for each polygon, difficult to interpret or coarse resolution data are given higher uncertainty
  • Metadata, time-date, map projection etc. info.
The figure illustrates the mapping procedure and satellite data in the background, radiometer, VIS/IR scanner, and GM SAR data. The ice chart is superimposed.




Access the ice charts here