A recent Statistics Canada article on Sea ice trends in Canada published in EnviroStats examines trends over a 43-year period (1968 to 2010) in the average area covered by sea ice during the summer in Canada’s North. Trends of total sea ice are reported for nine sea ice regions, and multi-year sea ice (older than 1 year) are reported for the five regions where multi-year ice is present, including three traditional shipping route regions. The sea ice time series and climatological analysis were produced by Environment Canada’s Climate Research Division, using publicly available weekly sea ice charts produced by the Canadian Ice Service.

The analysis found that all nine sea ice regions had statistically significant decreases in total sea ice coverage in summer over the study period. Two of the three shipping route regions showed statistically significant decreases in mean total sea ice coverage in summer. Only one of five regions (Baffin Bay) showed statistically significant increasing trends in mean multi-year sea ice coverage in summer.

The article is the fourth in a series, focused on short statistical analyses of climate-related data, made available to Statistics Canada by Environment Canada and Natural Resources Canada, as required through a Memorandum of Understanding on the dissemination of environmental statistics. To date, the series has included trend analysis on glacier mass balance, temperature, and precipitation.

Contact: Anne Walker, 416-739-4357, Anne.Walker@ec.gc.ca, Climate Research Division