NOAA/NSIDC Climate Data Record of Passive Microwave Sea Ice Concentration, Version 2
Data set id:
G02202
DOI: 10.7265/N55M63M1
There is a more recent version of these data.
Version Summary

  • Two new variables added to the netCDF files:


    • melt_onset_day_seaice_conc_cdr

    • melt_onset_day_seaice_conc_monthly_cdr


  • Calculation of melt_start_detected flag in the qa_of_seaice_conc_cdr variable was updated


See the documentation for full details on these variables.

Overview

This data set has been replaced with a newer version. Note: If necessary, Version 2 can be accessed by contacting NSIDC Users Services at nsidc@nsidc.org. However, we highly suggest using the latest version of this data set. This data set provides a Climate Data Record (CDR) of sea ice concentration from passive microwave data. It provides a consistent, daily and monthly time series of sea ice concentrations from 09 July 1987 through the most recent processing for both the north and south polar regions. In addition, three other sea ice concentration products are included with the CDR that extend the sea ice measurements back to 26 October 1978. However, these three products are not included in the official CDR because processing the older data in a way that follows the standards of a CDR is not currently possible. All data are on a 25 km x 25 km grid.
Parameter(s):
SEA ICE CONCENTRATION
Platform(s):
DMSP 5D-2/F11, DMSP 5D-2/F13, DMSP 5D-2/F8, DMSP 5D-3/F17, Nimbus-7
Sensor(s):
SMMR, SSM/I, SSMIS
Data Format(s):
NetCDF
Temporal Coverage:
26 October 1978 to 31 December 2015
Temporal Resolution:
  • 1 day
Spatial Resolution:
  • 25 km
  • 25 km
Spatial Coverage:
N:
89.84
S:
31.1
E:
180
W:
-180
N:
-39.36
S:
-89.84
E:
180
W:
-180
Blue outlined yellow areas on the map below indicate the spatial coverage for this data set.

Data Access & Tools

This data set has been retired. There is a more recent version of these data.

Help Articles

General Questions & FAQs

NSIDC currently archives passive microwave sea ice concentration products based on two algorithms: the NASA Team algorithm and the Bootstrap algorithm. Both algorithms were developed by researchers at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in the 1980s.

How to Articles

NOAA@NSIDC data recently transitioned to HTTPS. The directory structure has NOT changed, but the beginning of the URL has changed from: ftp://sidads.colorado.edu/pub/DATASETS/ to:
Currently three NOAA@NSIDC data sets are available in NOAA's PolarWatch Data Catalog. Please note that in the catalog the Climate Data Record (CDR) data sets are split up into Antarctic and Arctic data sets:
This external R tutorial guides you through an R script for the NOAA/NSIDC Climate Data Record of Passive Microwave Sea Ice Concentration data in PolarWatch: