NOAA@NSIDC

NOAA@NSIDC is pleased to announce that the Multisensor Analyzed Sea Ice Extent (MASIE) data set is now available in NetCDF4 format. Both the 1 km and 4 km resolution data are available in this new format with surface type classifications for sea ice, land, coastline, lake, ocean, and missing. The NetCDF files are for the full Northern Hemisphere-wide MASIE product; the regional data are not included. Ancillary 4 km and 1 km latitude and longitude NetCDF files are also provided to accompany the NetCDF data files.

NOAA@NSIDC is pleased to announce that the Sea Ice Index has been updated from near-real-time data to final data for the time period 01 January 2020 through 31 December 2020. Initially, when the Sea Ice Index is first processed, it uses a near-real-time (NRT) sea ice concentration product as its input. This NRT product can contain missing data and has less quality control procedures applied to it than the final sea ice concentration input product provided by NASA Goddard. However, the final input product often lags behind the present by approximately a year.

NOAA@NSIDC is pleased to announce a data update to the Global Lake and River Ice Phenology Database. The database has been updated with new data for 144 lakes; 59 of which also had an update made to their latitude and longitude coordinates to make them more accurate. For a list of the lakes that were updated, see Section 3.2 of the User Guide for this product.

NOAA@NSIDC is pleased to announce that the NOAA@NSIDC Climate Data Record of Passive Microwave Sea Ice Concentration, Version 3 data set has been updated to include the time period of 01 January 2020 through 31 December 2020, with the exception of 28 August 2020 which had bad data, so that date is not included in the update.

NOAA@NSIDC is pleased to announce that the International Ice Patrol (IIP) has updated their annual count of icebergs south of 48 degrees North through the 2020 iceberg season. Every year during the ice season, the IIP surveys icebergs in the vicinity of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland within the western Atlantic Ocean and issues daily iceberg charts. The number that drift south of 48° N is significant because these pose a larger threat to transatlantic shipping. The annual count is an indicator of the severity of the iceberg season and its impact on mariners in the region.

NOAA@NSIDC is pleased to announce that the International Ice Patrol (IIP) has updated their Iceberg Sightings Database through the 2020 iceberg season. The IIP has been collecting information on iceberg activity in the North Atlantic since 1913, and this database contains data from these sightings starting in 1960. The IIP data files include latitude and longitude of sighted icebergs, coded iceberg size and shape class, and date and time of the sighting.

NOAA@NSIDC is pleased to announce the release of sea ice chart data resulting from collaboration with the U.S. National Ice Center (USNIC) called the U.S. National Ice Center Arctic and Antarctic Sea Ice Concentration and Climatologies in Gridded Format. On a weekly basis, USNIC produces analyst-drawn Arctic- and Antarctic-wide charts that have information on sea ice concentration, stage of development, and form. These charts characterize ice with a level of detail and accuracy that is unmatched by satellite data-derived products.

NOAA@NSIDC would like to make users aware of a data update and an error notice for the NOAA@NSIDC Gridded Monthly Sea Ice Extent and Concentration, 1850 Onward data set.

The ability to view data interactively adds convenience to dynamic data analysis. While static graphs and images are informative, interactive tools allow users to view and analyze data on-the-fly. Readers of our Arctic Sea Ice News and Analysis blog enjoy daily updates on sea ice extent, but some wanted to see data from specific days or years that weren’t provided in the static graphs. Behold Charctic.