During the first week of September 1996, the National Ice Center (NIC) began routinely producing regional-scale analyses for all sea ice covered seas located (clockwise) between the longitudes of 95E and 95W in the northern hemisphere. This global area, known as the "Arctic" to the NIC, is comprised of different Arctic regions. Analyses of current ice conditions are produced bimonthly for regions in which sea ice is present. Regions containing no analysis information should be considered ice-free. Exceptions to this rule may occur when ice is limited to but does not extend beyond an overlap between two regions.

All NIC regional sea ice analyses are derived from the near real-time integration of remotely sensed and in-situ oceanographic/meteorological observations. These analyses are produced following standard analysis procedures which optimize the use of data that vary widely in availability, scale, and resolution. These operational data sources can be grouped into the following categories: satellite derived data, aerial ice reconnaissance, ship/shore station observations, drifting buoy reports, meteorological guidance products, ice prediction model output, climatology and sea ice information obtained from international partners such as foreign ice services. Documentation recording the percentages of each data type used in each analysis can be found in a weekly metada narrative.

NIC analysis and forecast guidance products are produced on global, regional and tactical scales. These products are disseminated through a variety of communications paths in both digital and analog formats.

Digital products include:

1. Global sea ice edge products consisting of latitude/longitude pairs.
2. Sea ice analysis charts in Graphics Interface Format (*.gif) which can be viewed with almost any web browser and/or graphics viewer .
3. Geographic Information System (GIS) ARC/INFO coverages.