The Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators (CESI) program provides data and information to track Canada's performance on key environmental sustainability issues. The Sea ice in Canada indicators provide information on the area of sea in Canada covered by ice during the summer season. Sea ice area represents the portion of marine area covered by ice. The area is evaluated using the Canadian Ice Service Digital Archive and is expressed in thousands or millions of square kilometres. The Sea ice in Canada indicators are provided for the Northern Canadian Waters, by sub-region and for the Northwest Passage. The indicators also present trends in total sea ice area and multi-year sea ice area. Multi-year sea ice is defined as sea ice that has survived at least one summer's melt. Sea ice is an indicator of how the climate is changing. It is a critical component of our planet because it influences the Arctic and global climate, ecosystems, and people who live in the polar regions. Sea ice influences the climate through the sea ice–albedo feedback effect (or reflectivity of the Earth's surface). Changes in sea ice can also affect ocean currents and the exchange of heat and water vapour from the ocean to the atmosphere. Sea ice affects marine transportation, commercial fishing, offshore resource development, the hunting and fishing patterns of Indigenous peoples, and tourism and recreation. Understanding how Canada's climate is changing is important for developing adaptive responses. The Sea ice in Canada indicators provide a way to communicate to Canadians how the coverage of Canada's Arctic sea ice has changed. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the World Meteorological Organization use sea ice, among several other variables, to assess long-term changes in climate. Sea ice is considered by the World Meteorological Organization's Global Climate Observing System to be an Essential Climate Variable. Information is provided to Canadians in a number of formats including: static and interactive maps, charts and graphs, HTML and CSV data tables and downloadable reports. See the supplementary documentation for the data sources and details on how the data were collected and how the indicator was calculated.
Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators: https://www.canada.ca/environmental-indicators