The German Ice Service:

short historical overview

the ice service today

1879-1896: records from different stations available

1896: Establishment of Ice Service

(Eisnachrichtendienst)

- coordination of existing services

- daily publications of ice conditions

- data in tabulated format

- attachment to weather information

1920/21 Introduction of national Ice Code

1. digit: ice conditions

2. digit: consequences for navigation

1922 Transmission of ice reports via radio stations

1927/28 publication of first ice charts

1929 airborne ice observations

1929 introduction of Baltic Ice code Version 1

1. digit represents ice conditions

2. digit represents nautical conditions

various national codes can be replaced

information exchange of the neighboring countries is possible

1953 1. WMO Sea Ice Nomenclature

1954/55 Baltic Ice Code (Version 2)

1968 2. WMO Sea Ice Nomenclature

1968/69 use of satellite images to gain ice information

1981/82 Baltic Ice code (Version 3)

1985/89 Suppl.4 and Suppl. 5 of Sea Ice Nomenclature

(latest Version)

1990 reunion of east and west German ice services

analogue archive until 1979/80

1978/80 introduction of digital database

The Baltic Ice Code:Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, The Netherlands,

Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden and Germany

Used to describe concentration, stage of development, shape of ice, nautical conditions

exchange code using WMO terminology

areas of interest (fairways, harbour areas, routes etc.) are subdivided in districts and sections (e.g. AA1 AA2 …)

general format: [distr. code]AB SB TB KB

AB amount SB stage of development, TB topography KB navigational conditions

Copenhagen

StockholmOslo

Helsinki

Riga

Tallinn

GdanskKiel

Kaliningrad

Klaipeda

The

Baltic Sea

close cooperation with all Baltic Ice Services, especially with Swedish and Finish

Source data from NOAA Satellites, Icebreakers, airborne

data is processed with ‘Icemap’ software (contouring methods)

interactive processing of latest ice charts

data distribution via mail, fax, e-mail (in future via Internet)

data distribution format : hardcopy or pdf files

display format according to ‘WMO Sea-Ice Nomenclature’

fill patterns and additional symbols

egg code hardly used

Ice service of BSH Germany(Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency of Germany)

Temperature and ice chart from NOAA Source Data

Ice chart with hatched sea ice areas (source: German Ice Service)

Ice chart with hatched sea ice areas (source: German Ice Service)