ICESat-2 Sea Ice Ancillary Data: Mean Sea Surface Height Grids

Mean Sea Surface (MSS) Height data grids used for producing ICESat-2 sea ice data products (ATL07, ATL10, ATL20, ATL21). The grids are provided in NetCDF format and are a blend of data from the CryoSat-2 satellite and the DTU13 model. The dataset was authored by R. Kwok from the University of Washington.

Use Cases

• Calibrating ICESat-2 sea ice freeboard measurements based on the provided Mean Sea Surface height reference.
• Validating sea ice data products (ATL07, ATL10, ATL20, ATL21) using the blended CryoSat-2 and DTU13 reference surface.
• Studying regional sea surface height variability in polar oceans based on the gridded altimetry data.

Strengths

• Data is derived from established satellite (CryoSat-2) and model (DTU13) sources, providing a validated reference.
• Format is NetCDF, a standard for scientific geospatial data storage and interoperability.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Row count and spatial/temporal resolution are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

University of Washington, authored by R. Kwok.

Collection Method

Blended data from CryoSat-2 satellite altimetry and the DTU13 Mean Sea Surface model.

Geography

Likely global or polar regions, specific coverage unknown.