Learning the major effects of ice on the Great Lakes will be crucial. Access to ice cover data is essential. Ice on the Great Lakes impacts many societal benefits provided by the lakes, from hydropower generation to commercial freight to commercial and recreational fishing. Thumbwind has been tracking the 2021s Great Lakes Ice Coverage.

Over 50 Years of Ice Coverage Data

Along with almost five complete snow data decades, GLERL researchers are observing extensive changes in snow cover consequently associated with climate change. Learning, monitoring, and forecasting ice coverage around the Great Lakes perform an essential role in identifying climate designs, lake water amounts, water movement and currents, water temperature framework, and spring plankton blooms.

NOAA GLERL has already explored the relationships among ice cover, river thermal structure, and regional climate regarding over 3 decades using historical type simulations and findings of ice, including surface water temp and other variables. Regular ice covers the image products produced by only the Canadian Ice Service (CIS) started in 1973. Inside 1989, the U.S. National Ice Center (NIC) produced Great Lakes ice cover charts of which combined Canadian and U. S. satellite tv imagery.

Read the original article from NOAA GLERL at Five decades of Great Lakes ice cover data – and where to find it