USGS Sea Ice Email Script

Daily sea ice imagery and charting benefits logistics and navigational planning in the Alaskan Arctic waters, yet access to these data often requires high bandwidth data access and substantial GIS processing. This software script acquires, processes and delivers these data in a format that may be manipulated by openly available virtual globe software, be visualized by software commonly installed on all smart phones and computers, and that may be accessed through moderate band-width data communications available in remote Alaskan communities and offshore research vessels. The script sends daily or weekly e-mails with attached maps images and virtual globe data files of sea ice products, including the National Ice Center Marginal Ice Zone chart, and images of the 6.25 Km resolution passive microwave reflectance optimized to visualize sea ice. In the emailing the script provides links to the NASA MODIS imagery corrected to enhance visualization of sea ice; National Weather Service sea ice and surface forecast products, the NOAA NECP forecasted 24 h sea ice drift map, and the latest NOAA images from the POES AVHRR satellite.