Ice cards
Ice maps produced for the prevention of flooding by ice jams and the monitoring of river ice during spring floods, winter temperatures or even during problems with ice jams. The maps are derived from radar satellite images, therefore available regardless of cloud cover, from several different sources, using algorithms to classify pixels into types of ice cover. Data is only processed and displayed on the main rivers at risk. The date the image was taken and the approximate region covered by the data is shown in the layer name. Data is added several times a week, but the frequency of revisits to each river can vary between 2 days and 2 weeks. The satellites and algorithms used according to the periods are summarized in this list: * Image prefix: period covered; source satellite; resolution of the maps produced; algorithm used * R2: 2018 - 2022; Radarsat 2; 7m; Radarsat 2; 7m; IceMap-r * 7m; IceMap-r * 7m; IceMap-r * 7m; IceMap-r * RCM; IceMap-r * RCM: 2024 - RCM: 2024 - now; Sentinal El 1; 12.5m; Arctus proprietary algorithm The different classes in the legend make it possible to differentiate the following types of ice: * Water (dark blue) : open water * Water /Smooth ice (blue) : a combination of water on ice, or spaced rafts of frasil * Smooth ice (cyan) : or black ice, the exact term for this type of ice is “columnar ice”, due to the vertical and elongated shape of the crystals that compose it. Black ice is generally transparent because it contains few or no air bubbles. It is formed by cooling, in fairly calm water, which is why it is sometimes called “thermal ice”. Its surface is very smooth. * Consolidated ice (light pink) : it includes Frasil ice or snow ice. Frasil ice forms in turbulent and very cold water. Composed of fine rounded crystals. These grains accumulate and rise to the surface to form moving ice rafts. These rafts end up close enough to freeze together (agglomerated ice). It contains a lot of air bubbles Its surface is slightly to moderately rough. * Consolidated ice with accumulations (dark pink) : ice cover formed by the stacking and freezing of various forms of moving ice. blocks that are superimposed or pieces of ice that are detached in one place and that are piled up in another. Moderately rough to very rough surface The images from Radarsat-2 and RCM are obtained through a partnership between Public Safety Canada and the MSP. The ICEMAP-R algorithm developed by INRS makes it possible to identify the type of ice according to the internal roughness of the ice (presence of air bubbles) and the roughness of the surface of the ice cover (presence of blocks and accumulations). The initial version was usable for Radarsat 2. The 2022 and 2023 RCM ice maps are given as an indication (new algorithm in progress), only data since 2024 are processed with the Icemap-R algorithm adapted to RCM. Since 2018, the MSP has also used images from Sentinel-1, a radar satellite from the European Space Agency with a resolution of 10 m, resampled to 12.5m for ice maps. The images are then processed by the firm Arctus, which uses a proprietary algorithm. The output of the various algorithms has been reclassified to obtain a comparable legend. Historical data may have presented an alternative classification. Until 2022, the legend varied between winter and thaw. The web service also contains visible satellite images from Landsat satellites (the image prefixes are then L8, L9) or Sentinel 2 (prefix S2). In this case, colored compounds (false colors to benefit from infrared bands in particular) are used to best visualize the presence of ice. From 2024, the colored compound S2 used is as follows: * Red: band 8A (Near Infrared - VNIR) 20m (resampled to 10m) * Green: band 3 (Green) 10m * Blue: band 2 (Blue) 10m * Blue: band 2 (Blue) 10mThis third party metadata element was translated using an automated translation tool (Amazon Translate).
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Additional Info
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| Last Updated | October 20, 2025, 02:36 (UTC) |
| Created | October 20, 2025, 02:36 (UTC) |
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Domain / Topic
Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.
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Geoscientific Information |
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Title
Title for the Dataset.
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Ice cards |
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Description
A description of the dataset.
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Ice maps produced for the prevention of flooding by ice jams and the monitoring of river ice during spring floods, winter temperatures or even during problems with ice jams. The maps are derived from radar satellite images, therefore available regardless of cloud cover, from several different sources, using algorithms to classify pixels into types of ice cover. Data is only processed and displayed on the main rivers at risk. The date the image was taken and the approximate region covered by the data is shown in the layer name. Data is added several times a week, but the frequency of revisits to each river can vary between 2 days and 2 weeks. The satellites and algorithms used according to the periods are summarized in this list: * Image prefix: period covered; source satellite; resolution of the maps produced; algorithm used * R2: 2018 - 2022; Radarsat 2; 7m; Radarsat 2; 7m; IceMap-r * 7m; IceMap-r * 7m; IceMap-r * 7m; IceMap-r * RCM; IceMap-r * RCM: 2024 - RCM: 2024 - now; Sentinal El 1; 12.5m; Arctus proprietary algorithm The different classes in the legend make it possible to differentiate the following types of ice: * Water (dark blue) : open water * Water /Smooth ice (blue) : a combination of water on ice, or spaced rafts of frasil * Smooth ice (cyan) : or black ice, the exact term for this type of ice is “columnar ice”, due to the vertical and elongated shape of the crystals that compose it. Black ice is generally transparent because it contains few or no air bubbles. It is formed by cooling, in fairly calm water, which is why it is sometimes called “thermal ice”. Its surface is very smooth. * Consolidated ice (light pink) : it includes Frasil ice or snow ice. Frasil ice forms in turbulent and very cold water. Composed of fine rounded crystals. These grains accumulate and rise to the surface to form moving ice rafts. These rafts end up close enough to freeze together (agglomerated ice). It contains a lot of air bubbles Its surface is slightly to moderately rough. * Consolidated ice with accumulations (dark pink) : ice cover formed by the stacking and freezing of various forms of moving ice. blocks that are superimposed or pieces of ice that are detached in one place and that are piled up in another. Moderately rough to very rough surface The images from Radarsat-2 and RCM are obtained through a partnership between Public Safety Canada and the MSP. The ICEMAP-R algorithm developed by INRS makes it possible to identify the type of ice according to the internal roughness of the ice (presence of air bubbles) and the roughness of the surface of the ice cover (presence of blocks and accumulations). The initial version was usable for Radarsat 2. The 2022 and 2023 RCM ice maps are given as an indication (new algorithm in progress), only data since 2024 are processed with the Icemap-R algorithm adapted to RCM. Since 2018, the MSP has also used images from Sentinel-1, a radar satellite from the European Space Agency with a resolution of 10 m, resampled to 12.5m for ice maps. The images are then processed by the firm Arctus, which uses a proprietary algorithm. The output of the various algorithms has been reclassified to obtain a comparable legend. Historical data may have presented an alternative classification. Until 2022, the legend varied between winter and thaw. The web service also contains visible satellite images from Landsat satellites (the image prefixes are then L8, L9) or Sentinel 2 (prefix S2). In this case, colored compounds (false colors to benefit from infrared bands in particular) are used to best visualize the presence of ice. From 2024, the colored compound S2 used is as follows: * Red: band 8A (Near Infrared - VNIR) 20m (resampled to 10m) * Green: band 3 (Green) 10m * Blue: band 2 (Blue) 10m * Blue: band 2 (Blue) 10mThis third party metadata element was translated using an automated translation tool (Amazon Translate). |
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Tags / Keywords
Keywords/tags categorizing the dataset.
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Format (CSV, XLS, TXT, PDF, etc)
File format of the dataset.
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Dataset Size
Dataset size in megabytes.
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Metadata Identifier
Metadata identifier – can be used as the unique identifier for catalogue entry
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Published Date
Published date of the dataset.
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2013-04-09 |
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Time Period Data Span (start date)
Start date of the data in the dataset.
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Time Period Data Span (end date)
End date of time data in the dataset.
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GeoSpatial Area Data Span
A spatial region or named place the dataset covers.
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Access category
Type of access granted for the dataset (open, closed, service, etc).
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License
License used to access the dataset.
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Creative Commons 4.0 Attribution (CC-BY) licence – Quebec |
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Limits on use
Limits on use of data.
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Location
Location of the dataset.
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https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/4a05016f-fa46-4b1d-94cf-ff45b4cb9391 |
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Data Service
Data service for accessing a dataset.
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Owner
Owner of the dataset.
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Government and Municipalities of Québec | Gouvernement et municipalités du Québec |
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Contact Point
Who to contact regarding access?
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Government and Municipalities of Québec; Government and Municipalities of Québec; Ministère de la Sécurité publique, [email protected] |
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Contact Point Email
The email to contact regarding access?
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Publisher
Publisher of the dataset.
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Publisher Email
Email of the publisher.
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[email protected] |
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Author
Author of the dataset.
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Author Email
Email of the author.
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Accessed At
Date the data and metadata was accessed.
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Identifier
Unique identifier for the dataset.
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Language
Language(s) of the dataset
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Link to dataset description
A URL to an external document describing the dataset.
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Persistent Identifier
Data is identified by a persistent identifier.
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Globally Unique Identifier
Data is identified by a persistent and globally unique identifier.
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Contains data about individuals
Does the data hold data about individuals?
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Contains data about identifiable individuals
Does the data hold identifiable data about individual?
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Contains Indigenous Data
Does the data hold data about Indigenous communities?
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Portal Type
Platform type of the source portal.
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Version
Version of the datatset
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None |
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Source
Source of the dataset.
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None |
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Version notes
Version notes about the dataset.
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Is version of another dataset
Link to dataset that it is a version of.
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Other versions
Link to datasets that are versions of it.
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Provenance Text
Provenance Text of the data.
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Provenance URL
Provenance URL of the data.
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Temporal resolution
Describes how granular the date/time data in the dataset is.
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GeoSpatial resolution in meters
Describes how granular (in meters) geospatial data is in the dataset.
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GeoSpatial resolution (in regions)
Describes how granular (in regions) geospatial data is in the dataset.
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Indigenous Community Permission
Who holds the Indigenous Community Permission. Who to contact regarding access to a dataset that has data about Indigenous communities.
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Community Permission
Community permission (who gave permission).
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The Indigenous communities the dataset is about
Indigenous communities from which data is derived.
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Number of data rows
If tabular dataset, total number of rows.
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Number of data columns
If tabular dataset, total number of unique columns.
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Number of data cells
If tabular dataset, total number of cells with data.
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Number of data relations
If RDF dataset, total number of triples.
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Number of entities
If RDF dataset, total number of entities.
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Number of data properties
If RDF dataset, total number of unique properties used by the triples.
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Data quality
Describes the quality of the data in the dataset.
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Metric for data quality
A metric used to measure the quality of the data, such as missing values or invalid formats.
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