Ice Floe Drift

Organization:
Environment Canada

Description:
Drifting buoys are deployed every year on the sea ice to monitor the ice drift in various locations within Canadian waters.  Such areas are: Gulf of St-Lawrence, Newfoundland & Labrador waters, Davis Strait of Baffin Bay as well as the Beaufort Sea.  All Arctic data is made available to the International Arctic Buoy Program for monitoring ice trajectories in the Arctic.  Data retrieved from these drifting buoys are used to verify/validate sea ice drift models.  In the past few years, some drifter buoys have also been deployed on large tabular icebergs to monitor - in near real time - the location of significant hazards to mariners operating in Canadian waters.