Integrated Solar Irradiance Exposure of East Antarctic Sea Ice

Images show cumulative photosynthetically active radiation exposure for sea ice in East Antarctica, expressed in W-days/m². Data was calculated using daily ice motion trajectories from March to November and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis solar flux estimates. The dataset was produced by the Australian Antarctic Data Centre and last updated in November 2004.

Use Cases

• Modeling sea ice algal growth by analyzing cumulative photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) values.
• Correlating ice motion trajectories with seasonal solar irradiance exposure for melt prediction.
• Studying spatial patterns of light availability for photosynthesis under Antarctic sea ice from the image data.

Strengths

• Data integrates two established sources: daily ice motion from NSIDC and solar flux from NCEP/NCAR reanalyses.
• Covers a full Antarctic autumn/winter season from 1 March to 1 November.

Limitations

• Dataset is temporally stale, with no updates since 2004.
• Data is presented only as images (encapsulated postscript and PNG), limiting direct numerical analysis.
• Specific row counts, geographic coordinates, and data resolution are unknown.

Provenance

Source

National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) for ice motion; NCEP/NCAR reanalyses for solar flux.

Collection Method

Integrated exposure calculated from daily ice trajectory motion across the season and daily solar flux estimates.

Time Range

Seasonal coverage from 1 March to 1 November (year unspecified).

Freshness

null

Geography

Sea ice in East Antarctica.