Northern Hemisphere EASE-Grid 2.0 Weekly Snow Cover and Sea Ice Extent, Version 4
This product provides snow cover at weekly intervals beginning 03 October 1966, as well as combined snow cover and sea ice extent at weekly intervals beginning 23 October 1978. Designed to facilitate the study of Northern Hemisphere seasonal fluctuations of snow cover and sea ice extent, this product also includes monthly climatologies describing average extent, probability of occurrence, and variance.
Table of Contents
- Detailed Data Description
- Data Access and Tools
- Data Acquisition and Processing
- References and Related Publications
- Contacts and Acknowledgments
- Document Information
Citing These Data
The following example shows how to cite the use of this data set in a publication. For more information, see our Use and Copyright Web page.
Armstrong, R. L., and M. J. Brodzik. 1997, updated 2013. Northern Hemisphere EASE-Grid 2.0 Weekly Snow Cover and Sea Ice Extent. Version 4. [indicate subset used]. Boulder, Colorado USA: National Snow and Ice Data Center.
Overview
| Varies | |
Varies |
|
Northern Hemisphere |
|
| 25 km |
|
Snow cover data only: 03 October 1966 – 23 October 1978 |
|
| Weekly (data correspond with weekly NOAA/NCDC snow cover extent CDR data) |
|
Snow Cover Extent |
|
Flat binary (1-byte unsigned integers) |
|
Metadata Access |
|
Current Version |
|
Data Access |
1. Detailed Data Description
Summary
Snow cover extent for this data set is based on the NOAA/NCDC Climate Data Record (CDR) of Northern Hemisphere (NH) Snow Cover Extent (SCE) by D. Robinson (2012) and regridded to the EASE-Grid. The NOAA/NCDC CDR of Northern Hemisphere Snow Cover Extent data were derived from the manual interpretation of AVHRR, GOES, and other visible-band satellite data (Helfrich et al. 2007). Sea ice extent is regridded to EASE-Grid from Sea Ice Concentrations from Nimbus-7 SMMR and DMSP SSM/I-SSMIS Passive Microwave Data.
Format
Data are stored in flat binary files with arrays of 720 columns by 720 rows of 1-byte unsigned integers. Each data file contains one array.
Data Granularity
Data files represent weekly Northern Hemisphere snow cover and sea ice extent.
File and Directory Structure
All data files are available via FTP. Figure 1 displays an image of the directory structure.
File Naming Conventions
Weekly Data, Browse, and Metadata Files
Weekly data and browse files are named according to the following convention, and as described in Tables 1a and 1b:
EASE2_N25km.snowice.yyyymmd1-yyyymmd2.vVV.bin
EASE2_N25km.snowice.yyyymmd1-yyyymmd2.vVV.png
Where:
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
| EASE2_N25km | Indicates this is an EASE-Grid 2.0 Northern Hemisphere 25 km file |
| snowice | Indicates this is a snow and ice file |
| yyyymmd1 | 4-digit year, 2-digit month, and 2-digit day of month indicating the beginning of the NOAA week (d1) |
| yyyymmd2 | 4-digit year, 2-digit month, and 2-digit day of month indicating the end of the NOAA week (d2) |
| vVV | Version number (v04) |
| .bin | Indicates this is a binary data file |
| .png | Indicates this is a PNG browse file |
Metadata for each weekly data file is provided in an ASCII text file. The naming convention for this file varies only slightly from the above convention, for example:
EASE2_N25km.snowice.metadata.yyyy-yyyy.vVV.txt
Where:
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
| metadata | Indicates this is a metadata file |
| yyyy-yyyy | Indicates 4-digit start and end years, such as 1966-2010 |
| .txt | Indicates this is an ASCII text file |
Monthly Climatology Files
Monthly climatology files containing probability of occurrence, average extent, or variance data are named according to the following conventions, and as described in Table 2:
EASE2_N25km.parm.cli.mm.yyyy-yyyy.vVV.bin
EASE2_N25km.parm.cli.yyyy-yyyy.vVV.png
EASE2_N25km.parm.cli.yyyy-yyyy.vVV.ps
Where:
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
| EASE2_N25km | Indicates this is an EASE-Grid 2.0 Northern Hemisphere 25 km file |
| parm | Parameter (sno, ice) |
| cli | Climatology file (frq: frequency/probability of occurrence; avg: average extent; var: variance) |
| mm | 2-digit month |
| yyyy-yyyy | Indicates 4-digit start and end years, such as 1966-2005 |
| vVV | Version number (v04) |
| .bin | Indicates this is a binary data file |
| .png | Extension indicating a PNG file (viewable in any Web browser) |
| .ps | Extension indicating a color PostScript file (viewable in any Web browser) |
File Size
Data files are approximately 508 KB each. The browse image files are approximately 22 to 23 KB each.
Spatial Coverage and Resolution
Source data are regridded to a Northern Hemisphere 25 km resolution Version 2.0 EASE-Grid.
Projection and Grid Description
Data are gridded using EASE-Grid 2.0 (Brodzik et al. 2012), which is defined with the WGS 84 ellipsoid rather than the spherical Earth model in the original EASE-Grid. The grid is 720 columns by 720 rows (0,719). For a detailed comparison between the two versions of EASE-Grid, refer to the EASE-Grid Data Versions page.
Temporal Coverage
Snow cover data are provided from 03 October 1966 through 23 October 1978, and combined snow cover and sea ice extent from 23 October 1978 through 31 December 2010.
Weekly sea ice extent was derived from an average of three or four sea ice source files for the SMMR time period. Weekly sea ice extent was derived from an average of seven ice source files for the SSM/I–SSMIS time period.
Temporal Resolution
Each file represents weekly data corresponding with the weekly NOAA/NCDC snow cover extent CDR data. A week is defined here as seven days.
Missing Data
No files exist for the following weeks:
- Four weeks spanning 01 July – 28 July 1968
- 21 weeks spanning 02 June – 26 October 1969
- 12 weeks spanning 05 July – 26 September 1971
Files for the following weeks have no ice information:
- All weeks prior to 23 October 1978
- Five weeks spanning 07 December 1987 – 10 January 1988
Parameter or Variable
Parameter Description
Snow Cover Extent
Binary, indicating snow or no snow
Sea Ice Extent
Binary, indicating presence or absence of sea ice when sea ice concentration is greater than 15 percent in a majority of a given week's sea ice files. The 15 percent ice concentration isopleth is a conventionally accepted cutoff for the ice edge (Johannessen et al. 1996).
Unit of Measurement
Binary presence or absence of snow or sea ice
Parameter Source
- Sea Ice Concentrations from Nimbus-7 SMMR and DMSP SSM/I–SSMIS Passive Microwave Data
- NOAA/NCDC Climate Data Record (CDR) of Northern Hemisphere (NH) Snow Cover Extent (SCE) by D. Robinson et al. (2012), Rutgers University Global Snow Lab
Parameter Range
Weekly Data
Data files contain a binary array of unsigned byte (8-bit) data with the following data values:
| Data Value | Parameter |
|---|---|
| 0 | Snow-free land |
| 1 | Snow-covered land |
| 2 | Sea ice |
| 3 | QC sea ice: pixel set to sea ice via QC during regridding |
| 4 | QC ocean: pixel set to open ocean via QC during regridding |
| 5 | QC snow: pixel set to snow via QC during regridding |
| 6-252 | Not used |
| 253 | Unclassifiable water due to mask mismatches |
| 254 | "Corner" pixels (outside Northern Hemisphere) |
| 255 | Open ocean |
Metadata for Weekly Data
The metadata for each weekly data file is consolidated in one ASCII text file. Figure 2 shows a sample of the metadata file, which displays information such as pixel counts for two weekly data files in September 2008.
Monthly Probability of Occurrence
Monthly probability of occurrence is the percentage of time in a given month that each pixel was either snow or sea ice. Data in these files are 1-byte values, ranging from 0 to 100 percent.
Monthly Average Extent
Monthly average extent is the binary value for each pixel, indicating 50 percent or greater probability of occurrence of snow or sea ice. Data are 1-byte values of 0 (probability of occurrence was less than 50 percent) or 1 (probability of occurrence was greater than or equal to 50 percent).
Monthly Variance
Monthly variance is the snow or sea ice probability of occurrence for each pixel, calculated as shown in Equation 1:
(Equation 1)
where:
i = 1966 to 2011 for snow or 1978 to 2011 for ice
n = number of years
= snow or sea ice probability of occurrence for data in this month for the period of record
= snow or sea ice probability of occurrence for data in this month for year i
Data are 1-byte values, ranging from 0 to 26, representing variances of 0.0 (least variance, i.e. always or never snow or ice covered) to 0.26 (most variance).
Sample Data Images
Sample data images are shown in Figures 3 through 6. Click on the thumbnail images for high-resolution images.
Quality Assessment
NSIDC observed and manually inspected selected files in this data set, and performed spot checks against the original hand-drawn NOAA/NESDIS snow charts and the original sea ice data. Please see the Quality Control Summary for more information about quality control procedures at NSIDC.
2. Data Access and Tools
Data Access
Data are available via FTP.
Software and Tools
Table 4 lists the software and tools that are available for this data set. Tools are accessible via direct FTP.
| Tool Type | Tool File Name | Description | Access | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Display | dataviewer.zip and dataviewer.tar.gz | NSIDC DataViewer is an Interactive Data Language (IDL) tool for viewing and animating satellite data and browse images. | FTP | ||||||||||
| Geocoordinate | EASE2_N25km.lats.720x720x1.double EASE2_N25km.lons.720x720x1.double (Located within gridloc.EASE2_N25km.tgz) |
These are geolocation files containing double-precision (8-byte) floating point arrays (720 columns x 720 rows) representing latitude or longitude at the center of each cell in the EASE2_N25km grid. Cells in the grid that are not in the Northern Hemisphere are designated with the value -999.0. | FTP | ||||||||||
| EASE2_N25km.gpd | This is a Northern Hemisphere grid parameter definition file that contains projection and grid resolution information specifying a 25 km grid resolution in EASE-Grid 2.0. | FTP | |||||||||||
| easeconv.pro (Located within easeconv-0.2.tgz) |
Easeconv.pro is an IDL program containing routines to convert between latitude/longitude and row/column coordinates. | FTP | |||||||||||
| Region Mask | EASE2_N25km_loci_land50_coast0km.720x720.bin (Located within EASE2_N25km.BU-MODIS.tar.gz) |
This is the EASE-Grid 2.0 land-ocean-coastline-ice (LOCI) mask (Brodzik et al. 2012); it contains a flat, binary array (dimensions 720x720 pixels) of 1-byte unsigned integers containing the following values:
|
FTP |
3. Data Acquisition and Processing
Data Source
Snow Data
The snow data used for Version 4 are from the recently released NOAA/NCDC Climate Data Record (CDR) of Northern Hemisphere (NH) Snow Cover Extent (SCE). The snow cover extent CDR uses an improved algorithm to produce pseudo-weekly snow charts from the daily, 24 km IMS product (NOAA/NESDIS/OSDPD/SSD, 2004; Ramsay, 1998; Helfrich et al., 2007). The snow cover extent CDR corrects spatial inconsistencies in snow-covered cells between the original weekly product and the pseudo-weekly data, primarily in mountainous regions, including the Himalayas, during specific months of the year. For data during the 1970s and early 1980s, the snow cover extent CDR also eliminates cells from the weekly data that were previously identified as "patchy" snow. D. Robinson and colleagues have determined that the early, coarser product depicted too much snow cover in these areas (personal communication to M. J. Brodzik, 23 December 2012). Robinson's statistical comparisons indicate that these adjustments are small, influencing previously published assessments of continental snow extent variability, by at most a few percent in several years in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Recent analysis of the snow cover extent CDR indicates a 95% confidence interval uncertainty in snow cover extent of plus or minus 3–5% during Northern Hemisphere spring for 1966–2010 (Brown and Robinson, 2011).
Sea Ice Data
The sea ice data used for Version 4 are the Sea Ice Concentrations from Nimbus-7 SMMR and DMSP SSM/I-SSMIS Passive Microwave Data. Please see the data set documentation for more details.
Derivation Techniques and Algorithms
The majority of data values were derived via nearest-neighbor interpolation from the respective source grids. Pixels with "QC" data values were determined by more complex algorithms as described in the Quality Control Summary and in the Processing Steps in the following section of this document.
Processing Steps
- Define an EASE-Grid 2.0 Northern Hemisphere land/ocean/permanent ice mask.
- Identify source land mask mismatches with the EASE-Grid 2.0 Northern Hemisphere land mask.
- Define EASE-Grid 2.0 sea ice climatology mask.
- Combine sea ice data for the given week and regrid sea ice from source grid (polar stereographic projection) to EASE-Grid 2.0 via nearest-neighbor interpolation.
- Set "one-neighbor" category mismatch pixels to QC sea ice if at least one of the surrounding eight source grid pixels was sea ice.
- Set "two-neighbor" category mismatch pixels to QC sea ice if at least one of the surrounding twenty-four source grid pixels was sea ice.
- Set the "others" category mismatch pixels to unclassifiable water.
- Set all regridded open ocean pixels above 83 degrees north latitude to QC sea ice.
- Set all regridded sea ice pixels outside the defined sea ice climatology mask area to QC ocean.
- Regrid digitized snow extent data from source (polar stereographic projection) grid to EASE-Grid 2.0 via nearest-neighbor interpolation.
- Set "lower latitude snow neighbor" category mismatch pixels to QC snow if at least one of the adjacent lower latitude source grid pixels was snow.
- Set "any snow neighbor" category mismatch pixels to QC snow if any of the adjacent source grid pixels were snow.
The EASE-Grid land-ocean-coastline-ice (LOCI) mask was derived from the Boston University version of global 1 km land cover from MODIS 2001 (Knowles 2004), courtesy of K. Knowles, National Snow and Ice Data Center.
NSIDC used American National Standards Institute (ANSI) C and Research Systems' Interactive Data Language (IDL) Version 8.2 to develop software for this data set.
Data Version History
Table 5 summarizes the cumulative differences between versions of this product.
| Version 1 | Version 2 | Version 3 | Version 3.1 | Version 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NSIDC Data Use Recommendations | NSIDC believes that those time periods using the Sea Ice Concentrations from Nimbus-7 SMMR and DMSP SSM/I-SSMIS Passive Microwave Data should replace previous versions and updates using near-real-time and preliminary sea ice input data. Extensive quality-control, reducing the number of pixels misclassified as sea ice due to weather effects and/or coastal contamination as well as the long-term calibrated time-series extending back to the SMMR era makes this input data a higher quality product. | Users already making use of the original v03 data would not likely see significant changes in the overlap period in the new data because the processing differences are small. New users of these data are recommended to use v03.1 files for the overlap period 27 December 2003 to 05 June 2005. NSIDC believes that those time periods using the Sea Ice Concentrations from Nimbus-7 SMMR and DMSP SSM/I-SSMIS Passive Microwave Data should replace previous versions and updates using near-real-time and preliminary sea ice input data. Extensive quality control, reducing the number of pixels misclassified as sea ice due to weather effects and/or coastal contamination as well as the long-term calibrated time-series extending back to the SMMR era makes this input data a higher quality product. |
NSIDC believes the improvements to the snow CDR data (refer to the Data Source section of this document) and the update to EASE-Grid 2.0 represent the best available analyses and presentation of these data sets, and warrant the complete reprocessing of this product. Users of previous versions are recommended to move to Version 4 data. | ||
| Projection, Dimensions, and Spatial Resolution | EASE-Grid 721 x 721 25.067525 km |
EASE-Grid 721 x 721 25.067525 km |
EASE-Grid 721 x 721 25.067525 km |
EASE-Grid 721 x 721 25.067525 km |
EASE-Grid 2.0 720 x 720 25.000000 km |
| Temporal Coverage | 1971-01-04 to 1995-09-03 | 1966-10-03 to 2001-06-24 | 1966-10-03 to 2005-06-05 | 2003-12-27 to 2007-06-24 (v3.1 files whose dates overlap v3.0 dates should replace them.) | 1966-10-03 to 2011-01-02 |
| Missing Weeks |
|
|
Same as Version 2 | Same as Version 3 | Same as Version 3.1 |
| Weeks with No Ice |
|
Same as Version 1 |
|
Same as Version 3 | Same as Version 3.1 |
| Weeks with Incomplete Ice |
|
|
None | Same as Version 3 | Same as Version 3.1 |
| Sensor Changeover Dates |
|
|
|
Same as Version 3 |
|
| Sea Ice Data Set Used | N/A | N/A |
|
|
|
| Ice Climatology | Static climatology, a "best guess" at likely sea ice locations, bounded by lat/lon boxes | Monthly climatology, derived from historical record of SMMR and SSM/I sea ice data from 1978 to 1999 | Monthly climatology, derived from historical record of SMMR and SSM/I sea ice data from 1978 to 2003 | Same as Version 3 | Same as Version 3.1, regridded to EASE-Grid 2.0 (Brodzik et al. 2012) |
| Polar Stereographic Maps Earth Model | Spherical, would have caused slight errors in regridded ocean/ice locations; the model error would cause geolocation errors of up to 8 km, which would result in errors of at most one pixel when sea ice was regridded using nearest-neighbor to the NL EASE-Grid | Elliptical, this is the correct Earth model for the input sea ice data | Same as Version 2 | Same as Version 3 | Same as Version 3.1 |
| EASE-Grid Land Mask Source | Original NSIDC EASE-Grid mask, all of Greenland was mapped to QC snow. | Original NSIDC EASE-Grid mask, all of Greenland was mapped to QC snow. | EASE-Grid land-ocean-permanent ice mask derived from BU-MODIS land cover (Knowles 2004) | Same as Version 3 | Same as Version 3.1, regridded to EASE-Grid 2.0 (Brodzik et al. 2012) |
| Manual Snow Chart Corrections |
|
|
Rutgers corrected all previously noted irregularities. However, a previously undetected irregularity was found and manually corrected in the chart for 1972-04-03. |
During data set quality control procedures, NSIDC noted a NOAA pixel at the western end of Baffin Island that became snow-free beginning with the week of 31 May to 06 June 1999, and that remained snow-free for the remainder of the current time series (through May 2005). | Rutgers corrected all previously noted irregularities. However, NSIDC has discovered an irregularity in one file starting 03 April 1972 (EASE2_N25km.snowice.19720403- 19720409.v04.bin); a number of pixels in the Great Lakes region are showing a snow-free pattern. This has been reported to Rutgers. |
Limitations of the Data
These data are most appropriate for large area studies. Users should note that source grid snow pixels range in size from approximately 16,000 km2 to 42,000 km2, and source grid ice concentration pixels range in size from approximately 485 km2 to 664 km2.
Known Problems with the Data
Pixels with values of "unclassifiable water" are undetermined because of mismatches between the various source and target land masks.
4. References and Related Publications
Brodzik, M. J., B. Billingsley, T. Haran, B. Raup, M. H. Savoie. 2012. EASE-Grid 2.0: Incremental but Significant Improvements for Earth–Gridded Data Sets. ISPRS International Journal of Geo–Information 1(1):32-45. doi:10.3390/ijgi1010032.
Brodzik, M. J. 2012. EASE-Grid 2.0 Land Cover Data Resampled from Boston University Version of Global 1 km Land Cover from MODIS 2001, Version 4. Boulder, Colorado USA: National Snow and Ice Data Center.
Brodzik, M. J. 1997. EASE-Grid: A Versatile Set of Equal-Area Projections and Grids. Boulder, Colorado USA: National Snow and Ice Data Center.
Brown R. D., and D. A. Robinson. 2011. Northern Hemisphere Spring Snow Cover Variability and Change over 1992–2010 Including an Assessment of Uncertainty. The Cryosphere 5:219–229, www.the-cryosphere.net/5/219/2011/doi:10.5194/tc-5-219-2011.
Cavalieri, D. J., J. Crawford, M. Drinkwater, W. J. Emery, D. T. Eppler, L. D. Farmer, M. Goodberlet, R. Jentz, A. Milman, C. Morris, R. Onstott, A. Schweiger, R. Shuchman, K. Steffen, C. T. Swift, C. Wackerman, and R. L. Weaver. 1992. NASA Sea Ice Validation Program for the DMSP SSM/I: Final Report. NASA Technical Memorandum 104559. 126 pp.
Cavalieri, D. J., P. Gloersen, and W. J. Campbell. 1984. Determination of Sea Ice Parameters with the NIMBUS–7 SMMR. Journal of Geophysical Research 89(D4):5355-5369.
Dewey, K. F. and R. Heim, Jr. 1981. Satellite Observations of Variations in Northern Hemisphere Seasonal Snow Cover. NOAA Technical Report NESS 87. 83 pp.
Dewey, K. F. and R. Heim Jr. 1982. New Data Base: A Digital Archive of Northern Hemisphere Snow Cover. Presented at Western Snow Conference, April 19–23. Reno, NV, 9 pp.
Gloersen, P., W. J. Campbell, D. J. Cavalieri, J. C. Comiso, C. L. Parkinson, and H. J. Zwally. 1992. Arctic and Antarctic Sea Ice, 1978 - 1987: Satellite Passive Microwave Observations and Analysis. NASA SP–511.
Helfrich, S. R., D. McNamara, B. H. Ramsay, T. Baldwin, and T. Kasheta. 2007. Enhancements to, and Forthcoming Developments in the Interactive Multisensor Snow and Ice Mapping System (IMS). Hydrological Processes 21(12): 1576–1586. doi:10.1002/hyp.6720.
Johannessen, O. M., M. W. Miles, E. Bjørgo. 1996. Global Sea Ice Monitoring from Microwave Satellites. In IGARSS '96. 1996 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium. Remote Sensing for a Sustainable Future, ed. T. I. Stein, Vol. II: 932–934. Piscataway, NJ: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
Knowles, K. 2004. EASE–Grid Land Cover Data Resampled from Boston University Version of Global 1 km Land Cover from MODIS 2001, Version 4. Boulder, Colorado USA: National Snow and Ice Data Center.
Knowles, K. 1993. Points, Pixels, Grids, and Cells: A Mapping and Gridding Primer. Boulder, Colorado USA: National Snow and Ice Data Center.
NOAA/NESDIS/OSDPD/SSD. 2004. IMS Daily Northern Hemisphere Snow and Ice Analysis at 4 km and 24 km Resolution. Boulder, Colorado USA: National Snow and Ice Data Center.
Ramsay, B. H. 1998. The Interactive Multisensor Snow and Ice Mapping System. Hydrological Processes 12:1537-1546.
Robinson, D. et al. 2012. NOAA/NCDC Climate Data Record (CDR) of Northern Hemisphere (NH) Snow Cover Extent (SCE). New Jersey, USA: Rutgers University Global Snow Lab.
Robinson, D. A., A. Bamzai, and B. Ramsay. 2001. Evaluating Northern Hemisphere Snow Cover During the Satellite Era: Variations in Extent and Associations with Temperature. Proceedings of the 12th Symposium on Global Change and Climate Variations. Albuquerque, New Mexico USA, American Meteorological Society, 36–39.
Robinson, D. A. 2000. Weekly Northern Hemisphere Snow Maps: 1966–1999. 12th Conference on Applied Climatology, Asheville, NC, American Meteorological Society, 12–15.
Robinson, D. A. and A. Frei. 2000. Seasonal Variability of Northern Hemisphere Snow Extent Using Visible Satellite Data. Professional Geographer 51: 307–314.
Robinson, D. A., J. D. Tarpley and B. Ramsay. 1999. Transition from NOAA Weekly to Daily Hemispheric Snow Charts. Proceedings of the 10th Symposium on Global Change, Dallas, TX, American Meteorological Society, 487–490.
Robinson, D. A., K. F. Dewey, and R. R. Heim, Jr. 1993. Global Snow Cover Monitoring: an Update. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 74:1689–1696.
Swift, C. T. and D. J. Cavalieri. 1985. Passive Microwave Remote Sensing for Sea Ice Research. EOS 66(49):1210–1212.
Related Data Collections
- NOAA/NCDC Climate Data Record (CDR) of Northern Hemisphere (NH) Snow Cover Extent (SCE) by D. Robinson (2012), Rutgers University Global Snow Lab
- Global Monthly EASE–Grid Snow Water Equivalent Climatology
- Nimbus–7 SMMR Polar Gridded Radiances and Sea Ice Concentrations
- Sea Ice Concentrations from Nimbus–7 SMMR and DMSP SSM/I–SSMIS Passive Microwave Data
- Sea Ice Index
5. Contacts and Acknowledgments
Investigators
Richard Armstrong
National Snow and Ice Data Center
CIRES, 449 UCB
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309–0449 USA
Mary Jo Brodzik
National Snow and Ice Data Center
CIRES, 449 UCB
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309–0449 USA
Technical Contact
NSIDC User Services
National Snow and Ice Data Center
CIRES, 449 UCB
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309-0449 USA
phone: +1 303.492.6199
fax: +1 303.492.2468
form: Contact NSIDC User Services
e-mail: nsidc@nsidc.org
Acknowledgements
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) provided funding for the production of this data set.
6. Document Information
Acronyms and Abbreviations
The acronyms and abbreviations used in this document are listed in Table 6.
| Acronym | Description |
|---|---|
| ANSI | American National Standards Institute |
| ASCII | American Standard Code for Information Interchange |
| AVHRR | Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer |
| CDR | Climate Data Record |
| CD–ROM | Compact Disk–Read Only Memory |
| DMSP | Defense Meteorological Satellite Program |
| EASE–Grid | Equal Area Scalable Earth Grid |
| EASE–Grid 2.0 | Equal Area Scalable Earth Grid Version 2.0 |
| FTP | File Transfer Protocol |
| GOES | Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite |
| IDL | Interactive Data Language |
| JPEG | Joint Photographic Experts Group |
| NASA | National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
| NESDIS | National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service |
| NL EASE–Grid | Northern Hemisphere "low resolution" (25 km) Equal Area SSM/I Earth Grid |
| NOAA | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |
| NRTSI | Near–Real–Time Sea Ice concentration |
| NSIDC | National Snow and Data Center |
| QC | Quality Control |
| SMMR | Scanning Multi–channel Microwave Radiometer |
| SSM/I | Special Sensor Microwave Imager |
Document Creation Date
January 1997
Document Revision Date
January 2013
September 2007
January 2005
March 2002
Document URL
http://nsidc.org/data/docs/daac/nsidc0046_nh_ease_snow_seaice.gd.html
