Nautical electronic maps of S-411 standard and their suitability in navigation for assessment of ice cover condition of the Arctic Ocean

The research on the ice cover of waterways, rivers, lakes, seas and oceans by satellite remote sensing methods began at the end of the twentieth century. There was a lot of data sources in diverse file formats. It has not yet carried out a comparative assessment of their usefulness. A synthetic indicator of the quality of data sources binding maps resolution, file publication, time delay and the functionality for the user was developed in the research process. It reflects well a usefulness of maps and allows to compare them. Qualitative differences of map content have relatively little impact on the overall assessment of the data sources. Resolution of map is generally acceptable. Actuality has the greatest impact on the map content quality for the current vessel’s voyage planning in ice.

The highest quality of all studied sources have the regional maps in GIF format issued by the NWS / NOAA, general maps of the Arctic Ocean in NetCDF format issued by the OSI SAF and the general maps of the Arctic Ocean in GRIB-2 format issued by the NCEP / NOAA. Among them are maps containing information on the quality of presented parameter. The leader among the map containing all three of the basic characteristics of ice cover (ice concentration, ice thickness and ice floe size) are vector maps in GML format. They are the new standard of electronic vector maps for the navigation of ships in ice.

Publishing of ice cover maps in the standard electronic map format S-411 for navigation of vessels in ice adopted by the International Hydrographic Organization is advisable in case is planned to launch commercial navigation on the lagoons, rivers and canals. The wide availability of and exchange of information on the state of ice cover on rivers, lakes, estuaries and bays, which are used exclusively for water sports, ice sports and ice fishing is possible using handheld mobile phones, smartphones and tablets.