Beaufort Sea Ice Draft and Velocity Measurements, 1990-2003

NSIDCV0 provides measurements of sea ice draft and ice velocity over the continental shelf of the Eastern Beaufort Sea from April 1990 to September 2003. The dataset was collected using moored Upward Looking Sonar (ULS) instruments, specifically Ice Profiling Sonar (IPS) and Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP). Its primary purposes were to assess ice hazards for offshore industrial activity and to study the impact of climate variability on the Beaufort Sea ice regime.

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term trends in sea ice thickness (draft) for climate change studies.
• Modeling ice movement (velocity) to assess hazards for offshore oil and gas operations.
• Calibrating satellite-derived sea ice thickness estimates with in-situ sonar measurements.
• Studying the seasonal and interannual variability of the Beaufort Sea ice pack.

Strengths

• Covers a substantial 13-year time series from 1990 to 2003.
• Provides co-located measurements of two key ice parameters: draft and velocity.
• Data was collected using specialized, moored sonar instruments designed for long-term deployment.

Limitations

• Specific row counts, file sizes, and complete column names are unavailable from all sources.
• Conflicting metadata exists for the last update date (2003-09-30 vs. 2026-03-13).

Provenance

Source

NSIDCV0

Collection Method

Observations from moored Upward Looking Sonar (ULS) instruments: Ice Profiling Sonar (IPS) and Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP).

Time Range

April 1990 to September 2003

Freshness

2026-03-13 01:42:42.204084

Geography

Continental shelf of the Eastern Beaufort Sea