SEA ICE RESEARCH LABORATORY

The SIRL was closed down at the end of March 2004, and all activities at
SIRL were transferred to a newly founded center, Pan-Okhotsk Research
Center of the Institute of Low Temperature Science in Sapporo from April
2004. Accordingly, the sea-ice radar network was also closed down in
operation at the end of the sea-ice season in June 2004. The Pan-Okhotsk
Research Center is to continue researches and educations as a strategic
international research center in the Sea of Okhotsk and its surrounding
regions.

Please contact for further information:
Pan-Okhotsk Research Center
The Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University
Kita-19, Nishi-8, Kita-Ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0819 Japan
Phone: +81-11-716-2111, FAX: +81-11-706-7142

http://wwwoc.lowtem.hokudai.ac.jp/

SEA ICE RESEARCH LABORATORY
Ice chart off the Okhotsk Sea coast of Hokkaido

	In winter, the Sea of Okhotsk is generally almost entirely covered with sea ice from late November to late May. Even in the southernmost part of the sea, along the northeastern sea coast of Hokkaido, the sea in general starts to freeze at early January and is covered with sea ice till late March. In the coastal regions off Hokkaido found were unstable ice pack, some consisting of drift ice from the north and others of locally frozen fast ice, and also found were packs of double or triple rafted ice
	The Sea Ice Research Laboratory (SIRL) of the Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University was founded in Mombetsu in April 1965 to conduct studies mainly on sea ice and coastal oceanography. The SIRL has successively operated a sea-ice monitoring radar network on the Okhotsk Sea coast of Hokkaido since 1969. The network consists of three landbased radars which allow a continuous monitoring of realtime ice field scenery along a 250-km coastline to as far as about 50 km into the Okhotsk Sea.