 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||
|
|
|
The high-resolution ice charts are provided on a weekly basis with a focus on the Svalbard area and are used primarily for marine safety and environmental research. Primary end users include ships operating in the waters around Svalbard and Norwegian Polar Institute doing habitat monitoring of polar bears. Other areas in the European and Russian Arctic can be covered on request. The ice charts are based on SAR images from Envisat or Radarsat and analyzed into a colour coded ice concentration chart according to the WMO code. The normalized and gray tone enhanced images are especially well suited for detecting medium-scale features and large-scale textures. The ice chart production is done during working hours, but has 24-hour internal maintenance support and customer support service. High Resolution Ice Chart (April 29, 2003)
The European Arctic Expanding interest for exploiting oil and gas fields further north and east will increase the need for sea ice information both for construction, marine safety and environmental reasons. The Norwegian oil and gas company, Statoil, is seeking to participate in the Stockmann field west of Novaja Semlja. Traffic of oil tankers from Russian waters along the Norwegian coast is thought to increase extensively in the coming years. There are considerable benefits if an oil spill can be avoided, or the effects of an oil spill decreased as a result of improved information. As this service evolves, new user groups in the European Arctic will be contacted to match changing requirements and user needs. |
||||||||||||
 |