Version 2 of the EUMETSAT OSI SAF and ESA CCI Sea Ice Concentration Climate Data Records

Abstract

We introduce the OSI-450, the SICCI-25km and the SICCI-50km climate data records of gridded global sea-ice concentration. These three records are derived from passive microwave satellite data and offer three distinct advantages compared to existing records: First, all three records provide quantitative information on uncertainty and possibly applied filtering at every grid point and every time step. Second, they are based on dynamic tie points, which capture the time 20 evolution of surface characteristics of the ice cover and accommodate potential calibration differences between satellite missions. Third, they are produced in the context of sustained services offering committed extension, documentation, traceability, and user support. The three records differ in the underlying satellite data (SMMR & SSM/I & SSMIS or AMSR-E & AMSR2), in the imaging frequency channels (37 GHz and either 6 GHz or 19 GHz), in their horizontal resolution (25 km or 50 km) and in the time period they cover. We introduce the underlying algorithms and provide an initial evaluation. 25We find that all three records compare well with independent estimates of sea-ice concentration both in regions with very high sea-ice concentration and in regions with very low sea-ice concentration. We hence trust that these records will prove helpful for a better understanding of the evolution of the Earth's sea-ice cover.

Predictability of Antarctic Sea Ice Edge on Subseasonal Time Scales

“…The observations used to verify the forecasts are daily sea ice concentration fields retrieved from passive‐microwave satellite measurements (OSI‐450; OSI SAF, ; Lavergne et al, ). The sea ice edge has been defined as the 15% sea ice concentration contour line for both the forecast ensemble members and the observations.…”

A Multimodel Approach for Improving Seasonal Probabilistic Forecasts of Regional Arctic Sea Ice

“…Hereafter, we denote these as Apr‐init, May‐init, Jun‐init, Jul‐init, and Aug‐init. We use the OSISAF Global Sea Ice Concentration Climate Data Record, Version 2 (hereafter OSISAF) for both forecast postprocessing and verification (OSISAF, ; Lavergne et al, ). For comparison, we also discuss some forecast skill results using a second SIC observational product, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) Climate Data Record of Passive Microwave Sea Ice Concentration, Version 3 (Meier et al, ; Peng et al, ; hereafter NSIDC‐merged).…”

Variability and trends in the Arctic Sea ice cover: Results from different techniques

“…[] and Eastwood et al . []. It uses a combination of two algorithms: the Bootstrap (frequency mode only, i.e., using 19 and 37 GHz vertical polarization brightness temperatures) and the Bristol algorithm [ Smith , ].…”