Table 5.

Categories of sea ice observations recorded as part of the RaTS program (1997–2017).

Abbreviations are as follows:

C = Clear

G = Grease ice (unconsolidated ice crystals giving the sea surface a grey appearance)

Pn = Pancake ice (predominantly circular pieces of ice up to 3 m in diameter,

with raised rims where individual pieces have ground together in swell)

B = Brash ice (floating ice fragments up to 2 m across, formed from wreckage of other forms of ice, including meteoric ice)

P = Pack ice (individual floes of ice, typically larger than 2 m)

F = Fast ice (sea ice which remains fast, that is attached to, the coast or islands)

NR = Not recorded

Date source abbreviations:

O = ice observed and recorded

I = inferred, i.e., no observation made but status inferred from observations on other dates