Historical Sea Ice and Iceberg Sightings for Eastern Canada 1817-1962

Historical sea ice extent data for the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Scotian Shelf, Canada, covering ice months from November to June. The dataset contains transcribed texts from original ice reports, reconstructed ice charts, and tables of iceberg and sea ice sightings. It was compiled by SCIOPS and covers the period from the early 1800s to 1962.

Use Cases

• Analyze long-term trends in monthly ice_extent_sq_km for the Cabot Strait and Scotian Shelf using time-series models.
• Map the spatial distribution of iceberg_sightings using provided latitude and longitude coordinates for risk assessment.
• Reconstruct historical ice_edge positions from reported coordinates to validate climate model simulations.
• Correlate transcribed_text from original reports with quantified ice extent data for qualitative climate event analysis.

Strengths

• Long temporal coverage spanning over 145 years from the early 1800s to 1962.
• Includes multiple data types: numerical ice extent, geospatial coordinates, and original textual reports.

Limitations

• Data ends in 1962, making it temporally stale for analyzing recent climate change impacts.
• Spatial coverage is limited to two specific regions: the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Scotian Shelf.

Provenance

Source

SCIOPS, via NASA EarthData (icedata.ca).

Collection Method

Transcribed from original contemporary ice reports and reconstructed into charts.

Time Range

1817 to 1962 (ice months November through June).

Freshness

Historical archive with no updates since 1962.

Geography

Gulf of St. Lawrence and Scotian Shelf on the eastern seaboard of Canada.