Articles | Volume 17, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-423-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-423-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Data description paper
| 
05 Feb 2025
Data description paper |
| 05 Feb 2025
| 05 Feb 2025
A sea ice deformation and rotation rate dataset (2017–2023) from the Environment and Climate Change Canada automated sea ice tracking system (ECCC-ASITS)
Recherche en prévision numérique environnementale, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Dorval, Quebec, Canada
Jean-François Lemieux
Recherche en prévision numérique environnementale, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Dorval, Quebec, Canada
L. Bruno Tremblay
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, McGill University, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
Amélie Bouchat
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, McGill University, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
Damien Ringeisen
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, McGill University, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Philippe Blain
Service Météorologique Canadien, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Dorval, Quebec, Canada
Stephen Howell
Climate Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Toronto, Canada
Mike Brady
Climate Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Toronto, Canada
Alexander S. Komarov
Meteorological Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Ottawa, Canada
Béatrice Duval
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, McGill University, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
Lekima Yakuden
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, McGill University, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
Frédérique Labelle
Recherche en prévision numérique environnementale, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Dorval, Quebec, Canada
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Stephen E. L. Howell, Randall K. Scharien, Jack Landy, and Mike Brady
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Sea ice pressure poses great risk for navigation; it can lead to ship besetting and damages. Sea ice forecasting systems can predict the evolution of pressure. However, these systems have low spatial resolution (a few km) compared to the dimensions of ships. We study the downscaling of pressure from the km-scale to scales relevant for navigation. We find that the pressure applied on a ship beset in heavy ice conditions can be markedly larger than the pressure predicted by the forecasting system.
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Short summary
Sea ice forms a thin boundary between the ocean and the atmosphere, with complex, crust-like dynamics and ever-changing networks of sea ice leads and ridges. Statistics of these dynamical features are often used to evaluate sea ice models. Here, we present a new pan-Arctic dataset of sea ice deformations derived from satellite imagery, from 1 September 2017 to 31 August 2023. We discuss the dataset coverage and some limitations associated with uncertainties in the computed values.
Sea ice forms a thin boundary between the ocean and the atmosphere, with complex, crust-like...
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