The National Ice Center (NIC) is a tri-agency operational center whose mission is to provide worldwide navigational
ice
Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaqu ...
analyses for the
armed forces of the United States, allied nations, and
U.S. government agencies.
It is represented by the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
(
Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
); the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...
(
Department of Commerce); and the
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mu ...
(
Department of Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...
). The National Ice Center is a subordinate command of the
Naval Oceanographic Office
The Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO), located at John C. Stennis Space Center in south Mississippi, comprises approximately 1,000 civilian, military and contract personnel responsible for providing oceanographic products and services to al ...
(NAVOCEANO). Originally known as the Navy/NOAA Joint Ice Center, which was established on December 15, 1976 in a memorandum of agreement between the U.S. Navy and NOAA, the National Ice Center was formed in 1995 when the U.S. Coast Guard became a partner. The National Ice Center produces global sea ice charts and various cryospheric GIS products. They also name and track Antarctic icebergs if greater than on its longest axis.
Icebergs must be a minimum of 19 kilometers in length to be tracked by the NIC.
See also
*
International Ice Charting Working Group
*
International Ice Patrol
The International Ice Patrol is an organization with the purpose of monitoring the presence of icebergs in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans and reporting their movements for safety purposes. It is operated by United States Coast Guard but is fun ...
References
External links
National Ice Center websiteTwitter account of US NIC
United States Coast Guard
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
United States Navy
Government agencies established in 1995
Ice in transportation
1995 establishments in the United States
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