Daily Sea Ice Concentration from AMSR2 Satellite at 0.25-Degree Resolution

AMSR2 sensor data provides daily sea ice concentration percentages over the Arctic and Antarctic oceans on a 0.25-degree grid. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) produces this dataset from the GCOM-W satellite launched in 2012. Level 3 processing calculates daily statistical means from ascending and descending satellite tracks.

Use Cases

• Modeling Arctic sea ice decline trends using the daily sea ice concentration percentage field.
• Validating climate model outputs against the 0.25-degree gridded concentration data for polar regions.
• Analyzing seasonal ice melt patterns by tracking the concentration percentage time series.
• Detecting polynya formation or ice edge retreat from spatial patterns in the concentration grid.
• Assimilating the ascending and descending track statistical means into sea ice forecast systems.

Strengths

• Global coverage of Arctic and Antarctic oceans on a consistent 0.25-degree grid.
• Daily temporal resolution enables tracking of rapid ice changes.
• Separate statistical means provided for satellite ascending and descending tracks.
• Long-term record available since the GCOM-W satellite launch in 2012.

Limitations

• Missing data values are encoded as -32768, requiring preprocessing for analysis.
• Error values range from -32761 to -32767, indicating areas outside the observation swath.
• Spatial resolution of 0.25 degrees may be too coarse for studying small-scale ice features.

Provenance

Source

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Collection Method

Microwave remote sensing from the AMSR2 instrument onboard the GCOM-W satellite, with Level 3 processing calculating daily statistical means.

Time Range

Records available from at least May 2012 (satellite launch) to present.

Freshness

Daily update frequency.

Geography

Global coverage over ocean areas around the Arctic and Antarctic seas.