CARVE Daily Arctic Land Surface Thaw State Maps 2003-2014

NASA's CARVE dataset provides daily 10 km resolution maps classifying the land surface state of Alaskan and Arctic Boreal regions as frozen, melting, or thawed. Data spans 2003 through 2014, generated from passive microwave radiometer observations by the AMSR-E and SSM/I instruments. These products support research on carbon cycle vulnerability in northern ecosystems.

Use Cases

• Tracking daily freeze-thaw cycles across Alaska and the Arctic Boreal region using the classified land surface state.
• Analyzing interannual variability in snowmelt onset and duration from the 2003-2014 time series.
• Validating climate and carbon cycle models with observational data on land surface state.
• Correlating thaw state transitions with other CARVE experiment measurements of atmospheric carbon.

Strengths

• Provides a consistent 12-year daily record (2003-2014) for analyzing long-term trends.
• Offers a specific 10 km spatial resolution for regional-scale analysis.
• Derived from established satellite instruments (AMSR-E and SSM/I) using a defined classification scheme (frozen, melting, thawed).
• Data products are aligned with the science collections from the focused CARVE experiment.

Limitations

• Specific row count, file size, and detailed column structure are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date: Data.gov lists 2026-03-13, while NASA Earthdata lists 2014-12 31, suggesting a metadata update versus data end date discrepancy.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Generated from passive microwave radiometer observations by the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) and the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I).

Time Range

2003 through 2014

Freshness

2026-03-13 05:57:28.264316

Geography

Alaskan and Arctic Boreal land surface