ECCO V4r4: Monthly Sea-Ice Salt Plume Fluxes on LLC90 Grid, 1992-2017

Monthly-averaged sea-ice salt plume fluxes on the native LLC90 model grid from the ECCO Version 4 Release 4 ocean and sea-ice state estimate. The dataset is a dynamically consistent reconstruction spanning 26 years from 1992-01-01 to 2018-01-01, produced by NASA. Observational constraints include satellite altimetry, sea surface temperature and salinity, ocean bottom pressure, sea ice concentration, and in-situ temperature and salinity profiles.

Use Cases

• Modeling brine rejection and its impact on ocean stratification based on monthly salt plume fluxes.
• Analyzing long-term trends in polar ocean salinity linked to sea-ice processes over the 26-year period.
• Validating or calibrating other ocean circulation models using the ECCO state estimate's consistent reconstruction.
• Studying the seasonal cycle of salt fluxes from sea ice into the ocean on a global 1-degree grid.

Strengths

• Covers a 26-year time series from 1992 to 2017, providing a long-term climate record.
• Incorporates multiple observational constraints including satellite altimetry, SST, SSS, and in-situ profiles.
• Provides data on a specialized LLC90 model grid designed for global ocean modeling.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data freshness should be verified as the last metadata update is listed in the future (2026).

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Dynamically and kinematically consistent reconstruction (state estimate) from the MITgcm, fit to observations in a least-squares sense.

Time Range

1992-01-01 to 2018-01-01

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 03:03:10.318975; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global