Lake Ice Data Collection

Recording ice on and ice off events can help us better understand the effects of global climate change. Scientists have found that the freeze-thaw cycles of northern water bodies are changing. However, since climate change is not consistent across the country and there are large gaps in the current monitoring network, scientists require critical data from many more regions. A citizen network of IceWatchers spread throughout Canada can help to supply that information (IceWatch, 2018).

The BCLSS encourages citizen scientists to document ice information for your local lake. The larger the data sets available, the better we can understand the effects changing ice cover has on lake health, local wildlife, and citizen lake use.

Ice collection data sheets can be found here. Please send all ice data to the BCLSS – we will enter it in the BCLSS and IceWatch databases.