NOAA@NSIDC is pleased to announce the release of the Seasonal Antarctic Sea Ice Extent Reconstructions, 1905-2020, Version 1 data set. This data set contains reconstructed seasonal Antarctic sea ice extent for 1905 through 2020. Uncertainty estimates and the metadata that describe aspects of the reconstruction process are also provided. The data are given by season for five geographic sectors (Amundsen-Bellingshausen Seas, Weddell Sea, King Hakon VII, East Antarctica, and Ross-Amundsen Sea) as well as for the entire Antarctic. Ryan Fogt, Marilyn Raphael, and Mark Handcock developed the reconstruction method. Ryan Fogt processed the data that we are releasing with this announcement.
The reconstruction method uses temperature and pressure observations that begin in 1905 as well as climate indices. Reconstructions have been calibrated to satellite-period observations from the NOAA/NSIDC Climate Data Record of Passive Microwave Sea Ice Concentration data set. The data are appropriate to use for evaluating climate models and interpreting the causes of regime shifts depicted in the reconstructions. They also provide a long-term historical context for the radical drop in Antarctic sea ice extent that has occurred since 2020. The data are available in CSV and NetCDF-3 format.
Data set DOI: https://doi.org/10.7265/55x7-we68