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1994 Report of the Auditor General of Canada

Assistant Auditor General: Robert R. Lalonde
Responsible Auditor: Wayne Cluskey

Main Points

20.1 The Ice Services Branch of the Atmospheric Environment Service is a recognized world leader in ice information. Based on our review of documentation and on interviews with clients, the operational management of the Ice Services Program appears satisfactory to the extent that it is delivering the prescribed ice information products to clients in accordance with program objectives. Furthermore, the Branch is taking steps to improve the economy and efficiency of its program.

20.2 Action is under way to change the program's main component, ice reconnaissance, from an aircraft-based to a satellite-based activity. This change is occurring at a time when the Atmospheric Environment Service is converting to a client-oriented management approach with a focus on results, and when Treasury Board is requiring that departments reduce budgets and maximize cost recovery.

20.3 The Branch has no formal statement of Canadian Coast Guard operating requirements for ice information. There is no formal feedback mechanism in place for determining the developing needs of the Branch's clients, other than for the Coast Guard. Nor does the Branch have a science and technology policy. All of these are required to guide long-term planning and to establish priorities for individual components of the program. For example, the priority given to data archiving within the overall program has not been clearly established.

20.4 Before the Ice Services Branch can completely achieve the desired results while ensuring economy and efficiency in its operations, it must be able to identify fully, track and analyze evolving demands for ice information and determine cost-recovery expectations over the next decade, based on input from all client groups.

20.5 Any failure in the ice information program due to aircraft, satellite or computer malfunction or communications failure could result in a rerouting or disruption of ship traffic in and out of Canadian ports or, at worst, loss of life and property. In view of Canada's dependence on maritime trade, such a failure could have a considerable economic impact. The Branch must therefore ensure that its contingency plans can be put into effect quickly and successfully.

Introduction

Background

20.6 Ice is a condition of climate that most Canadians live with during a significant part of the year. Its effect on weather and transportation, although most evident in the Arctic, is felt throughout the country.

20.7 The greatest impact of ice is in large lakes, rivers and estuaries - where annual flooding can cause loss of life and property - and in coastal waters, where delay or redirection of ships could add to transportation costs and possibly jeopardize Canadian competitiveness. Ice affects the way we design and operate ships, the way we build and operate breakwaters, docks and bridges and the way we fish and tap offshore oil and gas - in short, it can have significant impacts on the environment and our economy.

20.8 Canada has almost 120 years of experience in ice research and management. With the longest coastline of any country in the world, most of it icebound for some part of the year, Canada has needed information to minimize the disruptive effects of ice and to forecast its influence on weather and global climate. In 1953, the Ice Reconnaissance Program became part of the Meteorological Branch of the Department of Transport, with responsibility for providing a fully integrated ice information service for Canadian Coast Guard icebreaking activities. By 1971 the Meteorological Branch had become part of the Department of the Environment (or Environment Canada) as the Atmospheric Environment Service. At that time, the Ice Services Branch became responsible for an ice services program with a wide clientele.

20.9 In 1982, the Department of the Environment received Cabinet approval to expand its Ice Services Program to accommodate anticipated needs for ice information into the next century, in support of year-round navigation in the Arctic, the growing offshore exploration for oil and gas, and iceberg surveillance off the east coast. Between 1983 and 1986, the Branch moved from visual observation of ice and manual collection of data to a highly automated radar-based system. During this period, Treasury Board approved capital expenditures totalling $75 million, which included acquisition of a specially equipped Dash 7 ice reconnaissance aircraft and construction of hangars in the Arctic. The introduction of the Ice Data Integration and Analysis System ( Exhibit 20.1 ), the Iceberg Analysis and Prediction System and the Ice Centre Communications System in the late 1980s dramatically increased the amount of ice information available. Those systems also reduced the time it took to acquire and convey information to clients from one or two days to six to eight hours, and Arctic ice information services became available year-round.

20.10 Overall, the program's capital cost from 1983 to the present has been approximately $82 million. Of this, $3 million was used to establish the Climatological Ice Data Archive System, which began in 1990-91 as the final phase of the program. It was completed in 1993.

The Ice Services Program

Program objectives
20.11 The objectives of the Ice Services Program are to provide ice information analyses, forecasts and warnings to support the efficiency and safety of Canadians involved in such activities as fishing, shipping, and construction and operation of offshore facilities. The program protects the quality of the marine environment by helping to prevent environmental disasters related to ice conditions. It also sends ice information to international data centres to support research on global environmental issues. (see photograph)

Program budget
20.12 The Ice Services Branch operating and capital budget for 1994-95 is $23.3 million and includes 78.5 full-time employee equivalents. The Ice Services Branch recovered $13.9 million in 1993-94 from clients, with $13.8 million coming from the Coast Guard, its primary client.

Ice information products
20.13 The major activity of the Ice Services Program involves ice reconnaissance and data analysis. Costs include $11.5 million for 1,000 hours per year of aircraft time gathering ice information, mostly over the Gulf of St. Lawrence - Great Lakes corridor and East Newfoundland waters in winter and in the Canadian Arctic in summer (Exhibit 20.2) . With this information, it monitors and predicts the formation, movement, and break-up and melting of ice and icebergs in Canadian waters and those adjacent.

20.14 Dedicated Ice Services aircraft collect ice imagery using radar, supported by imagery from American and European satellites and information based on visual observations from ships and aircraft. The information is received at the Ice Centre in Ottawa, where it is processed into ice charts and other products for transmission to Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers and other users.

20.15 To meet the program's objectives, specific ice information products are provided over a 12-month period. In addition to up to 1,500 daily forecasts, these include 3,000 charts depicting current and forecasted future ice conditions, and responses to an estimated 3,000 inquiries for detailed ice information. These products are used by the Coast Guard and marine industries and contribute to long-term research, by Canadians and others, on global climate and on pollution.

The challenge: to deliver a high-quality service at lowest cost
20.16 The challenge facing the Ice Services Branch is how to deliver the highest quality of service at the least cost to clients and the taxpayer. The Branch is reducing its budget by three to four percent a year over a five-year period ending 1997-98. At the same time, it expects to increase its revenues through better marketing of ice information products and better cost recovery to meet Treasury Board requirements. Some guidance was given to the Branch in the recommendations of the Department's 1991 Ice Services Program evaluation. Those recommendations are being implemented through the Branch's Action Plan, approved in 1992.

Risks of program failure
20.17 There could be serious repercussions from incorrect, incomplete or delayed ice information due to equipment malfunction or breakdown or to communications problems. Icebreakers and commercial shipping would be affected immediately, and life and property could be put at risk if an interruption in the flow of information were prolonged. The loss of ice data would affect the Branch's ability to deliver its program and, in the long term, a break in continuity of data records could have a negative impact on global climate research.

Audit Scope and Approach

20.18 We focussed on the Branch's 1992 action plan, developed in response to the 1991 program evaluation recommendations, and on its strategic planning document. Both contain the Branch's response to pressures for change from departmental senior management (to become more client-driven) and Treasury Board (to increase cost recovery from clients). Although we concentrated on the Ice Centre in Ottawa, we also visited the Canadian Coast Guard's Ice Operations Office in Dartmouth to observe the primary client's use of ice information. We also spent time on two icebreakers to see the practical application of ice information in the field. That also provided an opportunity for us to interview the vessel captains and the Branch's ice specialists at work.

Audit objectives
20.19 The overall objectives of the audit were to determine whether the Ice Services Program was planned and managed with due regard to economy, efficiency and achievement of expected results; and to determine if appropriate action had been taken on the recommendations of the 1991 program evaluation.

Audit criteria
20.20 We expected to find, for each element of the action plan, an objective, performance measures, milestones for completion and provision for accountability reporting. We expected to find that strategic planning had incorporated information from the action plan implementing the recommendations of the 1991 program evaluation and from other sources, and that the Branch was addressing its new challenges. Specifically, we expected to find that the Branch had identified its clients and their collective needs and had established a consultative mechanism to enable it to meet "evolving client needs" (required under the action plan).

Observations and Recommendations

Need for a Clear Definition of Client Requirements

Service to the Canadian Coast Guard
20.21 The Coast Guard has been the primary client of the Ice Services Branch for over 40 years. Current ice information is required by the Coast Guard primarily for its operations in ice-infested waters, to protect ships from damage and from delays in reaching or leaving port. For example, on our visit in February 1994 to the Coast Guard's Ice Operations Office in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, we noted that 40 vessels moved on that particular day between the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Atlantic Ocean, and more than half of them needed some assistance to traverse the shipping lanes. (see photograph)

20.22 The Ice Services Branch transmits information through the Ice Centre in Ottawa to the icebreaker vessels and the Coast Guard's regional Ice Operations offices; they, in turn, advise commercial vessels. The Ice Services Branch supplies an ice service specialist, as needed, to icebreaker captains operating in ice-infested waters - a pool of 12 such specialists was used in 1991-92. The onboard ice specialist interprets, for the captain's use, ice information transmitted from the Ice Centre to the ship, together with information from the ship's own helicopter if it has one, or from a Coast Guard helicopter operating from another base in support of icebreaking activities. In the opinion of both the ice specialists and the icebreaker captains interviewed during the 1991 program evaluation and our own audit, this partnership between ice specialist and ship's captain is an important one and is unlikely to be replaced by an automated system, at least in the foreseeable future.

20.23 Need for a formal statement of Coast Guard's operating requirements for ice information. The 1991 program evaluation recognized the importance of a close relationship between the Ice Services Branch and the Coast Guard. It recommended that the Coast Guard determine its "operating requirements" and take a more active role in technology development, in conjunction with the Ice Services Branch. The Ice Services Branch action plan approved by the Department of the Environment in 1992 did not address those recommendations, leaving them to the Coast Guard alone. The Coast Guard did second a liaison officer to the Ice Services Branch to clarify its ice information requirements. A reference manual was produced, describing the standard procedures used by the Ice Services Branch to provide ice information services and distribute ice information. In September 1993, Annex II - Ice Information Services - to the 1984 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Atmospheric Environment Service of Environment Canada and Transport Canada was redrafted as part of the proposed renegotiation of the MOU. However, to date, this statement of the Coast Guard's operating requirements for ice information has not been formalized.

20.24 Given the importance of such information requirements, as reflected in the 1991 program evaluation recommendations, we are concerned that the Ice Services Branch and the Coast Guard are only now proceeding to formalize them in an amended memorandum of understanding. In our opinion, the need for such a statement is long overdue.

20.25 Ability to measure performance. Representatives of the Ice Services Branch and the Coast Guard meet monthly to review the ice information services provided and their application to icebreaking operations. A review of the files and interviews with Branch management and others did not indicate any problems with the ice information services provided by the Branch. However, it is difficult to see how the performance of the Ice Services Branch can be adequately assessed without a formal and current statement of the Coast Guard's ice information requirements against which to measure the delivery of its services.

20.26 Consequences of a delay in formalizing the Coast Guard's operating requirements for ice information. The need for such a formal statement has become even more important, as major technological changes by the Ice Centre are already under way to move ice reconnaissance from an aircraft-based to a satellite-based activity. If, due to operational problems, the new RADARSAT system does not meet Coast Guard needs in obtaining adequate ice data from its three-day coverage of the Gulf or in transmitting the information to icebreakers, gaps in coverage could occur. In spite of supplemental coverage from the Dash 7 aircraft, negative impacts on shipping movements could result, which might endanger the safety of ships, crews and cargoes.

20.27 Counteracting such potential gaps in information would require modifying the system, for example, by reinstating extensive aircraft-based reconnaissance at additional cost. Alternatively, the Coast Guard might choose to reduce its financial contribution in view of reduced service. Either way, the efficiency and effectiveness of the Ice Services Program could be jeopardized. It is, therefore, in the interests of the Ice Services Branch to complete negotiations as soon as possible.

Service to other clients
20.28 A comprehensive review to determine the needs of the Branch's other clients apart from the Coast Guard is a further prerequisite to developing an efficient program tailored to client requirements. The 1992 action plan and the Atmospheric Environment Service's five-year business plan (1993) obligate the Branch to "consult and involve clients in all aspects of design, development and evaluation of our services."

20.29 Survey of client needs. The Ice Services Branch completed a survey of other clients' needs in August 1993. The overall goal of the survey was "to help determine the value of existing products and to define the potential for new products marketed on a cost-recovery basis." The survey used questionnaires distributed by mail as well as interviews in person or by telephone.

20.30 Because a complete up-to-date list of clients was not available, a sampling frame of 400 clients was constructed from several sources. From this frame, 325 clients were selected to receive the questionnaire. A response rate of 40 percent was achieved.

20.31 The questionnaire was designed to answer two key questions:

  • What impact do Ice Services Branch products (existing and possible) have on operational and/or planning decisions made by its clients?
  • How can the range of products and services currently offered by the Ice Services Branch be modified, expanded, or changed to reflect the new economic realities of restricted operating budgets, a changing client mix, and new regulatory procedures applied to Arctic shipping?
20.32 When we reviewed the questionnaire against the overall goal (paragraph 20.29) and these key questions, we noted certain gaps. For example, the impact of existing products on the clients' operational planning was only partially addressed by the questionnaire. This meant that some important information was unavailable to the Branch for its own planning purposes. There were no questions concerning cost recovery or the willingness to pay for existing or new products. Questions were asked only on the general value of those ice information products. Furthermore, clients were not asked what they would do if ice information products were not available to them from the Ice Services Branch.

20.33 The Branch adopted an unconventional approach to gathering the data included in the analysis. Questionnaires were completed for respondents who did not return the mailed questionnaire but were interviewed by the consultant and Branch personnel, either in person or by telephone. The questionnaires were completed based on notes of the interviews conducted. In our opinion, such data would have been best analyzed separately from those collected from respondent-completed questionnaires to determine the potential for bias in the overall results and, if necessary, to prevent it.

20.34 Nevertheless, the survey gathered a lot of information that the Ice Services Branch is using to evaluate its ice information services and to plan for the future. However, there is a need to fill the gaps we have noted and to focus on the clients' "evolving needs" if the Ice Services Program is to provide products tailored to client needs and to maximize cost recovery. This requires regular formal feedback from all client groups rather than infrequent surveys - a moving picture rather than a photograph capturing one particular point in time.

20.35 Consequences of incomplete information on client needs. Without more information, the Branch has a limited ability to build a dynamic data base of client needs for future planning of both product development and cost recovery. The implementation of the primary recommendation from the 1991 program evaluation - that the Branch become "client driven" rather than "technology driven" - could be put at risk if the development of information products proceeds without a full understanding of client needs. It could result in products for which there is little demand, with subsequent poor cost-recovery opportunities and needless expenditures. Ultimately, such an approach could lead to a loss of clients.

20.36 The Ice Services Branch should build on the results of its recent survey, by establishing a formal feedback mechanism for ongoing client input on such matters as new ice information product development, service standards and cost-recovery strategies.

The Ice Services Branch's Role and Responsibilities

20.37 With the completion of the Expanded Ice Information Service Program in 1993, the Atmospheric Environment Service said that it had "developed and maintained a world class ice information service for Canadians." ( Environmental Science and Technology: An Overview, Ottawa 1993) However, the 1982 decision to put in place an expanded ice information service that would meet Canada's needs in the 1990s did not foresee the rapid pace of technology development, or the current economic pressures that would influence all government operations. Both factors are now affecting the Ice Services Branch, which is already committed to taking another major technological step in 1995. That is when the ice reconnaissance program will move to a satellite-based operation with the launching of the Canadian Space Agency's RADARSAT. This change is in response to anticipated budget reductions, and senior management guidance will be required to ensure that they can be achieved along with increased revenue generation.

Need for a Science and Technology Policy

20.38 At present, there is no Ice Services Branch science and technology policy to clarify its national and international responsibilities, and to provide direction to managers if reduced appropriations cannot be offset by increased revenue and program adjustments must be made. We expected to find such a policy statement with priorities clearly laid out. For example, should ice reconnaissance be maintained at its current level, at the expense of other program segments such as data archiving? The latter is of paramount importance to the Branch's international clients and is the basis for its worldwide reputation.

20.39 The 1991 evaluation of the Ice Services Program recognized the need for a science and technology policy for the Branch's use. It was an objective of the subsequent 1992 action plan, and was scheduled for completion in December 1993. At the time of our audit this had not been done. The need for a policy was endorsed by the Department's Audit and Evaluation Committee when it approved the action plan in February 1992. Such a policy document defining the Branch's role and responsibilities would have provided guidance for both strategic planning and the client survey activities.

Consequences of a policy vacuum
20.40 While we were pleased to note that service standards are now being developed, we are concerned that this is being done without the benefit of direction from a Branch science and technology policy. Without a science and technology policy, the Ice Services Branch has no guide to help it shape its approach to technological change and respond to the need for any program adjustments. Without such direction, money and time could be inappropriately allocated to a specific program component to the detriment of one client or another. For example, in the case of the Coast Guard, reduced support could impact on Canada's ability to provide the ice information necessary to protect shipping and commercial interests. This could result in a loss of Coast Guard confidence in the program and partial or complete withdrawal from it. The resultant loss of revenue could affect the Branch's ability to carry out its complete program without lowering service standards. In the case of ice data archiving, reduced support could deprive Canadian and international scientists of ice data vital to the understanding of global climate problems.

20.41 The Ice Services Branch should follow up as soon as possible on its action plan commitment to develop a science and technology policy for its own use.

Incomplete Strategic Planning

20.42 The Ice Services Branch Strategic Overview Document (November 1992) lays out its intended approach over a five-year period to meet the requirements of the Atmospheric Environment Services business plan for 1993-94 to 1998-99, entitled: "Our New Way of Doing Business: Building on our Strengths". Its primary aims are to reduce the cost to taxpayers of ice data acquisition and to increase the revenue generated from the provision of ice information and services.

20.43 The overview document outlines strategies as well as actions to be taken, together with milestones, to reduce the money required from the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the Branch's operations from $20.9 million in 1992-93 to $17.9 million in 1997-98. The difference is to be realized through cost recovery from users of the services outside the federal government. The document identifies risks associated with the stated strategies and, in some cases, alternative approaches if cost-recovery plans are not realized.

20.44 The Branch is devoting both time and effort to identifying opportunities for cost recovery. Its progress is evident in the pricing policy and itemized pricing list that have been developed for ice information services. Furthermore, staff are undergoing training to learn "how to transform a government agency into a marketing entity", and a commercialization policy has been prepared. Although the overview document addresses comprehensively this aspect of the new way of doing business, the Branch has not identified its program priorities for available resources if expected revenues from cost recovery do not meet stated targets, and if the balance required to maintain the service is not available from the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

Consequences of incomplete strategic planning
20.45 To maintain its international reputation, the Branch needs strategies for dealing with reduced levels of government funding and uncertain levels of revenue; otherwise, it could be faced with a major shortfall in resources and the prospect of either reducing its ice reconnaissance services or sacrificing other components of the program to keep the reconnaissance service at the required level. Either approach could have serious consequences, such as inadequate protection for shipping or loss of historical data to support global warming research.

20.46 The Ice Services Branch should expand its strategic overview document to fully reflect alternative strategies associated with reduced government funding and uncertain levels of revenue generation.

Technology Development

20.47 A major change in the way ice information is collected and processed will occur with the launching of the RADARSAT satellite in 1995. The Ice Services Branch is currently preparing for the conversion from an aircraft-based to a satellite-based system. The Dash 7 aircraft will be retained, however, to provide tactical support to Coast Guard icebreakers and to fill gaps in the RADARSAT strategic coverage ( Exhibit 20.3 ).

20.48 Imagery will be received by the Ice Centre from satellite receiving stations, the material analyzed and the resulting ice information placed on the bulletin board service computer. From this, all clients, including Coast Guard icebreakers and Ice Operations offices, will be able to download information daily into their local computers. Dash 7 flight imagery will be available directly to icebreakers and the Ice Centre in Ottawa. On board icebreakers, ice service specialists will view, compare and analyze the aircraft and satellite data and will advise the captains on ice conditions.

Benefits and costs of the move to RADARSAT
20.49 While the conversion to RADARSAT will require an estimated $2.3 million update to the Ice Centre, the Branch predicts that one of the benefits will be an annual minimum saving of $1.5 million in operating costs when compared to the present aircraft-based operation. The RADARSAT Data Policy identifies ice information as the highest priority for RADARSAT imagery, aside from emergencies. The Branch anticipates that this technology will facilitate user access to ice information and enhance cost-recovery opportunities.

Contingency Plans to Handle Emergencies

20.50 The Ice Services Branch is a high-technology operation, vulnerable to short-term or permanent damage to hardware and software. It is important, therefore, to have adequate contingency arrangements for such emergencies, especially when continuity of service will depend on a satellite outside the control of the Ice Services Branch. This represents a loss of the flexibility provided by aircraft, which can be dispatched anywhere at any time in normal circumstances, as opposed to a satellite with a fixed orbit and schedule. With respect to the Ice Centre, a detailed "Contingency Plan for the National Ice Centre" was approved on 12 April 1994 to protect the "nerve centre" of the operation. It should also be noted that, under an arrangement with the National Archives of Canada, a backup system for ice data has been established to ensure the protection of the archive should the Ice Centre be damaged or destroyed.

Scope of RADARSAT contingency plan
20.51 The Branch has recognized that problems also could occur with the satellite. It could fail at launch, at deployment or during operation. It has thus prepared a "RADARSAT Contingency Plan", dated 25 March 1994, to respond to such operational emergencies. The plan identifies the major categories of risk, and action to be taken to maintain an acceptable level of service. It relies heavily on the Dash 7 aircraft and on aircraft used by National Defence, Fisheries and Oceans and the private sector.

20.52 Lack of formal agreements to obtain emergency assistance. As stated above, the contingency plan relies heavily on the use of alternative data sources, such as other resource satellites, and on aircraft currently operated by other government departments. As of 31 May 1994 there were no formal agreements or memoranda of understanding in place to ensure that help from those sources would be forthcoming immediately if emergencies occurred, and if shipping in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and off Newfoundland were put at risk.

20.53 Ice Services Branch should negotiate formal agreements with other government and private sector organizations with roles in the RADARSAT Contingency Plan, whereby priority use of other satellites and aircraft would be obtainable in an emergency.

Viability of contingency plans
20.54 The Ice Services Branch has no plans to test emergency arrangements to see if adequate ice information services can be guaranteed in the event of computer failure at the Ice Centre or satellite malfunction or shutdown. The Coast Guard, in particular, has a major responsibility to safeguard shipping in ice-infested waters and, thus, needs assurance that services would be maintained.

20.55 Ice Services Branch should test its emergency response plan prior to the launch of RADARSAT in 1995.

The Branch's Ice Data Archive

20.56 The Ice Services Branch maintains an ice data archive as part of its mandate to provide ice information. Its capability in this respect has been considerably enhanced by the establishment in 1993 of the Climatological Ice Data Archiving System. While data archiving plays a vital role in global climate research in Canada and abroad and contributes, therefore, to Canada's international standing, the activity has a low profile in the Branch.

Need to update archiving policy
20.57 The present archiving policy, dated October 1986, is still only in draft form. It does not take into account, therefore, the new Climatological Ice Data Archiving System and its impact on the Branch`s archiving capabilities and services.

Location and cataloguing of existing ice data
20.58 Informal contacts are maintained by the Ice Services Branch with federal departments that generate ice data - for example, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the National Research Council - to keep abreast of their data holdings.

20.59 In consultation with industry, academia and private sector consultants, the Ice Services Branch hopes to develop directories listing the sources of available ice data - type, location and contact persons - to provide a more comprehensive service. The work to date has revealed that some important sources of information are in danger of being lost because their value to the original collectors, such as the oil and gas industry, has declined as their projects have been terminated or relocated. These data are valuable to researchers and other users of historical information.

20.60 Importance of uninterrupted ice data collection. Safeguarding Canada's ice data is essential for existing and future Canadian and international climate research, including research on the effects of global warming. The importance of such data is increasing.

20.61 In the past, Canada was covered by a network of meteorological stations - some large, some small one-man, part-time operations - that supplied important ice information. Since the Second World War, however, the departments and agencies responsible for their financial support have closed them one by one, due to changing program priorities and shrinking budgets. Yet those organizations have not notified interested parties, such as the Ice Services Branch, until after the closures. In other cases, monitoring stations have been automated and ice thickness measurements excluded from the data package. These actions have resulted in losses of the valuable continuous data that are so important to climatological and related research, in Canada and abroad.

Consequences of inattention to data archiving
20.62 Without a more comprehensive approach to ice data archiving - comprising the identification, location and protection of data sets, their co-ordination and listing within a recognized national directory or system - Canada is liable to lose valuable ice information. Such a loss would affect, for example, research, engineering design and environmental impact assessment, while reducing our ability to find solutions to global climate problems. This vulnerability applies to both the sophisticated data generated by satellites and the basic ice data gathered routinely at weather stations. If the keeping of ongoing records is terminated, there will be no means to retrieve lost data, and even if such records are later reestablished, their value to researchers will be diminished.

20.63 The responsibilities and priorities of the Ice Services Branch with respect to ice data archiving are unclear. Through membership on the U.S.-Canada Joint Ice Working Group and its standing committees, including that on Data Archives, the Ice Services Branch serves as advisor to the federal government on ice matters, in co-operation with the U.S. government's National Ocean Service. Together, they plan the framework for U.S. and Canadian archiving programs to meet research needs and to ensure their continuing ability to address future problems. Such activities could include the formal recognition of archival material in an international registry. The failure to discharge any of these international responsibilities could have repercussions and damage Canada's image in the global scientific community.

20.64 The Ice Services Branch should:

  • clarify its archiving role by updating and formalizing its internal archiving policy;
  • develop a national registry listing sources of all available ice data in both the government and the private sectors as a one-stop service to researchers;
  • seek appropriate input to the Climatological Ice Data Archiving System of data sets that could otherwise be lost, to protect valuable information and avoid future duplication; and
  • use its international role in archiving, as demonstrated in its representation on the U.S.-Canada Joint Ice Working Group, to conclude formal agreements on data archiving registration with other countries involved in ice data collection and research.

Overall Conclusions

20.65 The operational management of the Ice Services Program appears to be satisfactory in that it is delivering the prescribed ice information products to clients in accordance with program objectives. Clients appear satisfied with services they have received, as far as we can ascertain from a review of files and from personal interviews.

20.66 The Branch is taking steps to improve the economy and efficiency of its programs. It is adjusting to budget reductions by pursuing opportunities for cost recovery and other means of generating revenue while maintaining the current level of service. The introduction of RADARSAT is expected to reduce the annual operating costs of ice reconnaissance by a minimum of $1.5 million.

20.67 However, as noted elsewhere in this chapter, there are a number of areas that need to be addressed if the Ice Services Branch is to respond effectively to the challenges facing it in the coming years.