ISLSCP II: Global Monthly Sea Ice Concentration

Global monthly sea ice concentration data, derived from passive microwave satellite sensors. The dataset contains sea ice concentration expressed as a percentage of ocean area, re-gridded from an original 25-km resolution to quarter, half, and one-degree latitude/longitude grids. Data were adjusted to match a standard land/water mask and are provided in ASCII format.

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term trends in global sea ice cover based on monthly time series data.
• Validating climate or sea ice models using satellite-derived concentration maps.
• Studying polar climate dynamics using data adjusted to a consistent land/water mask.
• Conducting spatial analysis of sea ice at multiple resolutions (quarter, half, one degree).

Strengths

• Data is derived from two established satellite sensor systems: Nimbus-7 SMMR and DMSP SSM/I.
• Provides multiple spatial resolutions (quarter, half, and one degree) for analysis flexibility.
• Data has been processed and re-gridded by the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).

Limitations

• Source platforms conflict on the last updated date (1995-12-31 vs. 2026-04-10), indicating potential metadata issues.
• Specific temporal coverage (start/end years) and row/table counts are not provided in the available metadata.
• Original column names and detailed file structures within the ZIP archives are unknown.

Provenance

Source

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Sea Ice Concentrations from Nimbus-7 SMMR and DMSP SSM/I Passive Microwave Data, processed by NSIDC and ISLSCP II.

Collection Method

Satellite remote sensing via passive microwave radiometers, re-gridded from EASE-Grid to equal angle lat/lon grids.

Freshness

2026-04-10 02:04:27.160389 (from datagov, but conflicts with nasa_earthdata date)

Geography

Global