Data Summaries

NSIDC offers a wide variety of sea ice products derived from passive microwave sensors, visible and infrared sensors, and other sources such as ice charts. NSIDC sea ice products are grouped into three main categories: passive microwave sea ice products, visible and infrared sea ice products, and field observations and operational charts. The passive microwave sea ice products are further divided into three categories: passive microwave sea ice concentration, other passive microwave sea ice products, and sea ice trends and climatologies. These categories are described below.

• Passive Microwave Sea Ice Products: Sea ice data sets derived from passive microwave sensors are divided into the following categories:
   
  • Passive Microwave Sea Ice Concentration: Sea ice concentration data sets derived from passive microwave sensors in both the Polar Stereographic projection and the Equal-Area Scalable Earth Grid (EASE-Grid).
     
  • Other Passive Microwave Sea Ice Products: Other types of sea ice data such as extent, velocity, melt onset, and brightness temperature derived from passive microwave sensors.
     
  • Sea Ice Trends and Climatologies: Trends, time series, and climatologies in sea ice data such as monthly and annual basin averages of sea ice extent, sea ice concentration, extent anomalies, and concentration anomalies.
     
• Visible and Infrared Sea Ice Products: Sea ice extent and other sea ice data from visible and infrared sensors.
   
• Field Observations and Operational Charts: Data sets include sea ice charts, sea ice drift and velocity, sea ice concentration and extent, sea ice thickness, sea ice age, and others from ships, buoys, upward-looking sonar, and manned research stations.