John Falkingham Canadian Ice Service, Environment Canada International Polar Year Ice Information Portal

Integrated Ice Information for IPY IPY will increase demand for sea ice information –Long-range forecasts for project planning –Operational support for field projects – marine safety –Ice-related information beyond duration of IPY ETSI, IICWG and Polar View constitute the most extensive network of stakeholders for sea ice information –National ice services –Operators of the Global Digital Sea Ice Data Bank –Operational service providers –Researchers –End users (public, commercial and research)

Integrated Ice Information for IPY To meet the demand, proposed a joint ETSI-Polar View website for Arctic and Antarctic sea ice information –Convenient point of access for comprehensive ice-related information –Products contributed by ETSI members and created by Polar View –“One-stop-shop” offering a complete range of products and services that respond to user information requirements –Integration of data and products from different sources and multiple service providers Potential for legacy beyond IPY –Vehicle for standardization of sea ice products –Operationally robust - sustainable beyond IPY

Portal Principles Primary purpose of portal is to enhance safety in ice covered waters –”Operational” products in near-real time –Portal is not an archive site – pass products elsewhere for archiving –Will provide info for science – scientists in field are operational Attribution –Home page to identify JCOMM, Polar View & contributors –Source of individual products should be made clear to users –Respect providers’ copyright conditions for all data

Portal Principles Portal is not intended to deal with emergency situations –Portal will not substitute for established emergency channels Language –Portal navigation, menus, etc will be in English only –Products can be in language of provider – recommended to provide English where available Data Policy –All products and data on the portal shall be freely available to users –Conditions may apply – e.g. no re-sale, attribution –Rules and disclaimers of product providers apply

Portal Principles Sub-polar seas are included –Baltic Sea, Hudson Bay, North Atlantic (International Ice Patrol) Content of the IPY ice portal should be monitored –At the technical level, day-to-day monitoring will be carried out by the Polar View web portal technical partner –At the informational level, a moderator will be supplied by ETSI to monitor quality and consistency of the information content

Design Concept There will be some geographic integration of products –Clickable map showing all products available for a given area –Serve up these products without leaving the portal Focus on ice charts and ice forecasts first –Do a good job with them –Add other products later – e.g. meteorological information, satellite images –Initially, can link to other sites for meteorological or satellite data Products will be grouped by fixed geographical areas –Barents Sea, Baffin Bay, etc.

Design Concept Portal navigation –Ensure it is convenient, easy to use, intuitive –Fast and easy to open and navigate - minimal graphics on the navigation and splash pages –When leaving portal, advise user or open new browser Products on portal will be simple raster or text formats –Information may point to other sources of more sophisticated information (e.g. S-57, shape files, WMS, etc) –More sophisticated format could be added later Products on portal must be useable across different capacity communication channels –Iridium satellite phone, Inmarsat, landlines –Small (maximum) product size –Multiple sizes that are user selectable

Design Concept Populating the portal should be as automated as possible –Product providers will supply metadata to define each product format and locate it in space and time –Exploit existing FTP/HTTP data access avenues –e.g. standard file naming convention Some static documents should be on the portal –WMO symbology standard, nomenclature –Other info to help interpret products on the portal –Basic climatology

Design Concept Portal will be one-way only – will not accept queries from users –But will have contact information for users to get more information Provide a mechanism for feedback from users to portal –feedback on portal or on ice information products Suggestion for an ”subscription” service –User submits order for specific products or a specific area for automatic delivery by

Action Plan Collect content and technical contacts from each Ice Service –Oct 5 - John F. Circulate notes from IICWG meeting –Oct 5 –John F. –Comments back to John by October 15 – ALL Provide product samples to Polar View –Oct 20 – ALL Provide copy of WMO 574 to Polar View for posting on site –John F. Polar View developers to make contact with Ice Service technical contacts –Oct 31 – Thomas P.

Action Plan Distribute metadata specifications –Nov 1 – Thomas P. Submission of information to JCOMM and feedback –Nov 10 – Vasily S. Implement a design concept, layout in a 1st draft of the site with as much functionality as possible –Nov 30 – Thomas P. Organize teleconference to review progress –early December – John F. Have a 1st functional draft of the portal with some services linked in –Jan 15, Thomas P.

Action Plan Make contact with IPY community to seek feedback and to ”market” the portal –ALL Clarify how the portal is managed – who makes policy and day-to-day decisions –Vasily S. / Thomas P. Organize teleconference to review progress –2nd half of Jan 07 – John F. Advertise portal on IPY web sites –Feb 07 Operational by March 2007