Ice drift is movement of ice. An important type of ice drift is drift of the sea ice, i.e., of the drift ice. Unless specified otherwise, this article discusses the drift of the sea ice. The direction of the ice drift is the vector sum of the oceanic and atmospheric circulations, i.e., upper ocean currents and winds.[1] Therefore study of ice drift is a tool for climate research.[1] Ice rafting, i.e., transport of material by ice allows geologists and oceanologists to reconstruct histories of past ice drift routes.[2]
The drift of floating sea ice may be estimated by comparing satellite images collected regularly at intervals of time. Results from winter ice drift may be found here: