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

AMSR2 sensor data provides monthly average 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 statistical means from daily observations.

Use Cases

• Model Arctic sea ice loss trends by analyzing the monthly Sea_Ice_Concentration (SIC) field over time.
• Assess observation reliability for a grid cell by comparing the Standard_Deviation field against the SIC value.
• Filter data quality by using the Average_Number column to identify pixels with sufficient valid observations.
• Study hemispheric differences by comparing SIC distributions and Total_Number of observations between polar regions.
• Validate other ice datasets by cross-referencing SIC percentages and spatial patterns from this product.

Strengths

• Global coverage over Arctic and Antarctic oceans with a consistent 0.25-degree sampling resolution.
• Includes quality metrics like Standard_Deviation, Average_Number, and Total_Number for each data pixel.
• Data is derived from the AMSR2 sensor which has a 1450 km swath and 7 microwave bands for observation.

Limitations

• Temporal resolution is one month, which may miss shorter-term ice dynamics and events.
• The simple arithmetic mean calculation may smooth out extreme daily variations within the month.
• Unknown total row count and specific temporal coverage range for the available dataset.

Provenance

Source

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) from the AMSR2 sensor onboard the GCOM-W satellite.

Collection Method

Satellite microwave observations processed to Level 3 by calculating monthly statistical means of daily values on a polar stereographic grid.

Time Range

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Freshness

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Geography

Global coverage over the ocean around the Arctic and Antarctic Sea.