How Ice Time™ Works
Satellite Radar Imaging
Successful ice travel includes understanding the types of ice, monitoring the changes in the ice, and the hazards that form. Ice Time™ does this for you by displaying current high resolution satellite radar images published to you in near real-time, usually within a day.
Radar satellites “see” at night and through clouds. In the winter radar also sees through the snow to the ice. These all-weather satellites provide the images we need to monitor lake ice frequently and reliably.
Radar satellites emit energy so image data can be collected through clouds, at night, and through snow.
What do Ice Time™ Maps Look Like?
Your radar maps will show changes in the ice over time. The images from each ice period are displayed differently in Ice Time™ so they are easy to understand. Ice Time™ uses false colors because radar images do not need or use sunlight to form images. Let’s start with new ice and winter ice as examples. See the descriptions below each image to interpret the colors.
New ice mapping. Southern basin of Lake Winnipeg during freeze up showing fragmented ice sheets drifting north exposing open water in the south. Forests are yellow, agricultural fields are light blue. Mapping icons are not displayed at this scale.
Winter ice mapping. Southern basin of Lake Winnipeg. Rubble (rough) ice is mapped in red, pressure ridges are yellow, and smooth ice is blue. The smoothest ice formed under low wind, and appears dark blue. Land is grey. Remember, you are seeing through the snow cover! Mapping icons are not displayed at this scale.
Mapping Icons
Key observations described in the ice reports are also marked by us on the radar maps, using easy to understand icons. The icon colors shown left are reserved for the Ice Time™ staff, so you know it comes from us. Users map features using blue icons. First Responders/Police mark incident locations using amber icons.
When you zoom in the hazard and incident icons appear. Most icons become more transparent as they age.
Winter mapping often shows smooth ice (blue), rubble ice (rough ice shown as red), and pressure ridges (yellow lines). Land is grey. Mapping icon are shown at select sites to get your oriented. Our research using satellites and drones on rough ice revealed we can map ridges or rough ice starting at 10cm (4”). In this image most of the rubble ice is less than 1 m (3.2‘) but can be as high as 3 m (10‘).
Need Assistance if you break down, run out of gas, or put your wheel in a crack? Immediately notify the Ice Time Free, Lite, and Pro community and they can find the closest access point and a barrier free route to you. It’s all in the app!
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Fish. Ride. Thrive!
Time Series
Animate your ice cover. The Time Series tool enables you to monitor the ice dynamics that matter to you. Watch the ice sheets form in stages, move, and create white ice, rubble ice, and pressure ridges. Ice Time is the first and only tool that can confirm that the ice has stopped moving. Here we see the ice form in stages, each stage has a different thickness, and you can easily identify open water or thin ice hazards, all from the comfort of home.
Time series for Rainy Lake Starts November 1, 2021 and completes on December 23, 2021. First, open water. Second, New Black Ice forms only in small lakes and bays. Third, the oldest ice has thickened, forming black ice shown in grey and New black Ice formed everywhere except the offshore basins. The region now has ice sheets with two thicknesses. Last, the offshore open water hazard has frozen to remains to be a thin ice and immersion hazard whereas the rest of the area has competent winter Black Ice.
Now you can precisely see the boundaries between ice floes of different age/thickness and can avoid the hazards because you are seeing through the snow!
Fish. Ride. Thrive!
Get Up and Running with Ice Time™
License and install Ice Time™ with confidence knowing a money back guarantee is in place.
Get App
Buy Now to select your geographic service regions, license and enjoy the Ice Time™ on your desktop, tablet, and phone. Get started now. See demo data from a previous year for free.
Get Tech
Receive high resolution ice maps and ice reports at home that describe the lake ice. Zoom in to your areas of interest. See what other people are posting about changes in the ice.
Get Local
Combine the power of Ice Time™ with your personal on ice due diligence techniques to plan and minimize risk where you are, or the spots you plan to move to.
Watch for key information posted by users.
Plan at Home, Navigate on the Ice: The Smart Way to Stay Safe
The smart user stays on top of the changes by using Ice Time™ at home using your desktop internet browser as a monitoring and planning tool to maximize your fishing time by choosing your destination, the access point and route. Use your phone or tablet while on the ice to see your position, your route, the hazards, and ice information posted by locals and you!
Yup. You can map your spots and keep them private too!