1. Jens Jakobsen Danish Meteorological Institute jjk@dmi.dk
Customized Antarctica Ice Products Support to Mary Arctica January – February 2016
Jens Jakobsen
Danish Meteorological Institute
5th Ice Analyst Workshop
National Ice Center
16 – 20 May 2016

2. The DMI Background for supporting Antarctica vessel operations:
Decades of experience from Greenland waters
Decades of cooperation with Royal Arctic Line
Access to a wide range of satellite data
- 4 ArcGis workstations with SIKU (ice charting software)
Familiar with International ice standards (WMO)
Provision of ice products for Antarctica
to Royal Arctic Line since 2012

3. Mary Arctica expected to face:
The ice environment:
Mary Arctica expected to face:
Heavy ice conditions for 4-5 weeks (bringing supplies for 3 research stations)
Moderate to high concentrations of level sea ice up to about 200+ cm thick
Ridges and compression zones
Windy conditions and poor visibility
Ice shelf / Icebergs

4. Input data for ice analysis
Satellite imagery (Sentinel 1A, Modis, AMSR2, TerraSAR-X, Radarsat-2 & Landsat-8 if needed)

5. Input data for ice analysis…
Vessel webcameras
Vessel observations/reports
Weather forecasts (Ninjo/Neumayer Station)
Hourly position/progress updates of vessel

6. Products and services to Mary Arctica
Ice charts (pdf files, WMO Egg Code)
Satellite image Quicklooks (pdf files)
Daily monitoring of ice situation (7 days a week)
Daily correspondence with Mary Arctica crew about progress and ice conditions
Special focus on:
Large floes
Leads / openings
Compression zones
Changes since yesterday

7. Producing ice charts in ArcGis/SIKU
Open latest ice analysis
Import new satellite imagery
Update/draw new ice edge and ice class borders
Determine ice egg values for each polygon
Prepare layout and insert symbols
Export ice chart

8. Producing ice charts in ArcGis/SIKU

9. Producing ice charts in ArcGis/SIKU

10. Producing ice charts in ArcGis/SIKU

11. Producing ice charts in ArcGis/SIKU

12. Producing ice charts in ArcGis/SIKU
Ice charts distributed by as pdf files
Suggested route inserted

13. Producing ice charts in ArcGis/SIKU
Sigrid-3 file (.shp file) exported after each analysis

14. Lessons learned from 2016 support:
More Sentinel 1A acquisitions of AOI are needed (S1B available later this year)
Patience is still required when navigating in Antarctic ice infested waters
2 wind events caused a total delay of about 10 days – ”waiting on weather”
AMSR2 data is well understood by vessel crew
2 sea ice analysts share the task to keep continuity and close communication with the vessel

15. Future Antarctic ice analysis
Sentinel 2A images (optical, 10m res.), 22 December 2015

16. Acknowledgements
DMI: Henrik Mathiessen, Keld Quistgaard, Leif Toudal Pedersen
DTU: Roberto Saldo (
AWI: Christine Wesche (TSX imagery) and Neumayer Station
RAL: Jane Robertsen (photos of Mary Arctica)