Canadian River Ice Database

River ice is a known occurrence in cold climate hydrological systems. The annual cycle of formation, growth, decay and clearance of river ice can include low flows and ice jams, as well as mid-winter and spring break-up events. Reports and associated data on river ice occurrence are often limited to site and season specific studies. Within Canada, the National Hydrometric Program (NHP) operates a network of gauging stations with water level as the primary measured variable. It is well known by the hydrologic community that river ice related information can be extracted from water level records. Near two decades ago, the Water Science and Technology Directorate of Environment and Climate Change Canada initiated a long-term effort to compile, archive and extract river ice related information from hydrometric records. As a result, this work has delivered an original research data set: the Canadian River Ice Database (CRID). The CRID includes near 71,000 river ice variables from a network of 196 NHP sites throughout Canada in operation within the period 1894 to 2015. The task of compiling this database involved manual extraction, data entry and input of more than 460,000 information fields on water level, discharge, date, time and data quality rating. In excess of 100,000 paper and digital files were reviewed with the network representing over 10,000 station years of active operation. This database follows up on several earlier efforts to compile information on river ice and expands the scope and detail for use in Canadian river ice research and applications. At each location, time series of up to 15 river ice variables specific to occurrence of freeze-up and winter-low events, occurrence of mid-winter break-up, ice thickness, spring break-up and maximum open-water level is compiled. Following the Government of Canada Open Data initiative, this original river ice data set is available to the public.