Open Service Network for Marine Environmental Data

Users
The users of the Arctic Sea Ice and Metocean Observing System pilot comprises of representatives from offshore and shipping companies, ship and icebreaker captains/ice pilots, national authorities, regional environmental agencies, national ice services and scientists.

The second user category, ship and icebreaker captains and ice pilots, makes both selection of sailing routes between ports of destinations as well as tactical decisions on how to penetrate through rough ice conditions when the ship (un)expectedly experience such situations. Decisions need to be made in order to operate safely and efficiently. (Go to pilot in the EUMIS portal)

Products
Some examples of products offered for planning of sailing routes and convoy operations in sea ice covered areas are shown below. Satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) images provide detailed information about sea ice conditions as illustrated in Figure ‎1. SAR images can be classified by automatic algorithms (Figure ‎2) and trained operators of an ice service (Figure ‎3). Other products that are useful for captains and ice pilots include ice drift predictions, met-ocean forecasts and observations from ships and airplanes.

Figure 1: Subimage from 28 April 2010 showing a partly ice covered area close to Spitzbergen, Svalbard. (Data provider: NERSC)

Figure 2: Sea ice classification map discriminating ice from open water in an ENVISAT ASAR subimage from 28 April 2010. Colour coding: Green – ice, blue – open water, red - unclassified. (Data provider: NERSC)

Figure 3: Sea ice classification map generated from operator analysis of satellite SAR data from 28 April 2010. (Data provider: METNO)