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NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) of Passive Microwave Sea Ice Concentration, Version 2

Published by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Catalog Last Checked: April 12, 2026 at 09:15 PM | Dataset Last Updated: June 20, 2013 at 12:00 AM
The Passive Microwave Sea Ice Concentration Climate Data Record (CDR) dataset is generated using daily gridded brightness temperatures from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) series of Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) passive microwave radiometers onboard F-8, F-11 and F-13, and from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) data onboard F-17. The sea ice concentrations are an estimate of the fraction of ocean area covered by sea ice for both the north and south Polar Regions. The daily product is produced by combining concentration estimates created using two algorithms developed at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) that are processed and combined at NSIDC using brightness temperature data from Remote Sensing Systems, Inc. (RSS). The data are gridded on the NSIDC polar stereographic grid with 25 x 25 km grid cells and are available in netCDF file format. The monthly averaged data have the same spatial resolution and format. Improvements since Version 1 include: 1) an extended data record from 2007 to present; 2) using SSMIS data from F-17; 3) a new snow melt variable; 4) netCDF metadata improvements; and 5) updated documentation and source code.

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Earth Science > Cryosphere > Sea Ice > Sea Ice Concentration Earth Science > Oceans > Sea Ice > Sea Ice Concentration Oceanic - Surface - Sea Ice Geographic Region > Polar Ocean > Arctic Ocean > Beaufort Sea Ocean > Southern Ocean > Ross Sea Ocean > Southern Ocean > Weddell Sea Continent > Antarctica

Complete Metadata
@type dcat:Dataset
accessLevel non-public
accrualPeriodicity R/P3M
contactPoint 
                                            {
  "fn": "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
  "@type": "vcard:Contact",
  "hasEmail": "mailto:sea_ice_concentration_contacts@noaa.gov"
}
describedByType application/octet-steam
description The Passive Microwave Sea Ice Concentration Climate Data Record (CDR) dataset is generated using daily gridded brightness temperatures from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) series of Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) passive microwave radiometers onboard F-8, F-11 and F-13, and from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) data onboard F-17. The sea ice concentrations are an estimate of the fraction of ocean area covered by sea ice for both the north and south Polar Regions. The daily product is produced by combining concentration estimates created using two algorithms developed at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) that are processed and combined at NSIDC using brightness temperature data from Remote Sensing Systems, Inc. (RSS). The data are gridded on the NSIDC polar stereographic grid with 25 x 25 km grid cells and are available in netCDF file format. The monthly averaged data have the same spatial resolution and format. Improvements since Version 1 include: 1) an extended data record from 2007 to present; 2) using SSMIS data from F-17; 3) a new snow melt variable; 4) netCDF metadata improvements; and 5) updated documentation and source code.
distribution 
                                            [
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
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    "describedByType": "application/octet-stream"
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    "description": "Access to the published CDR product, documentation and source code.",
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    "description": "THREDDS Data Service for this dataset.",
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    "description": "Access to the data via FTP.",
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    "accessURL": "https://doi.org/10.25923/aczh-7906",
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    "description": "Superseded dataset landing page.",
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    "description": "The information provided on this page seeks to define how the GCMD Keywords are structured, used and accessed. It also provides information on how users can participate in the further development of the keywords.",
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]
identifier https://data.noaa.gov/waf/NOAA/NESDIS/ncei/aim/iso/xml/C00808.xml
issued 2013-06-20T00:00:00.000+00:00
keyword 
                                            [
  "Earth Science > Cryosphere > Sea Ice > Sea Ice Concentration",
  "Earth Science > Oceans > Sea Ice > Sea Ice Concentration",
  "Oceanic - Surface - Sea Ice",
  "Geographic Region > Polar",
  "Ocean > Arctic Ocean > Beaufort Sea",
  "Ocean > Southern Ocean > Ross Sea",
  "Ocean > Southern Ocean > Weddell Sea",
  "Continent > Antarctica",
  "NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) Program",
  "NOAA OneStop Project",
  "10 km - < 50 km or approximately .09 degree - < .5 degree",
  "Earth Remote Sensing Instruments > Passive Remote Sensing > Spectrometers/Radiometers > Imaging Spectrometers/Radiometers > SSMIS > Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder",
  "Earth Remote Sensing Instruments > Passive Remote Sensing > Spectrometers/Radiometers > Imaging Spectrometers/Radiometers > SSM/I > Special Sensor Microwave/Imager",
  "Earth Remote Sensing Instruments > Passive Remote Sensing > Spectrometers/Radiometers > Imaging Spectrometers/Radiometers > SMMR > Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer",
  "Earth Observation Satellites > DMSP (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) > DMSP 5D-2/F8 > Defense Meteorological Satellite Program-F8",
  "Earth Observation Satellites > DMSP (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) > DMSP 5D-2/F11 > Defense Meteorological Satellite Program-F11",
  "Earth Observation Satellites > DMSP (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) > DMSP 5D-2/F13 > Defense Meteorological Satellite Program-F13",
  "Earth Observation Satellites > DMSP (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) > DMSP 5D-3/F17 > Defense Meteorological Satellite Program-F17",
  "Earth Observation Satellites > NIMBUS > Nimbus-7",
  "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
  "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCDC > National Climatic Data Center, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce",
  "NSIDC > National Snow and Ice Data Center"
]
language 
                                            []
license https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
modified 2013-06-20T00:00:00.000+00:00
publisher 
                                            {
  "name": "NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
references 
                                            [
  "https://doi.org/10.25923/aczh-7906",
  "https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/metadata/geoportal/rest/metadata/item/gov.noaa.ncdc:C00805/html"
]
rights otherRestrictions
spatial 180.0,-89.84,-180.0,89.84
temporal 1978-10-26T00:00:00+00:00/2015-12-31T00:00:00+00:00
title NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) of Passive Microwave Sea Ice Concentration, Version 2

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