Comparison of Hemispheric and Regional Sea Ice Extent and Area Trends from NOAA and NASA Passive Microwave-Derived Climate Records

Three passive microwave-based sea ice products archived at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) are compared: (1) the NASA Team (NT) algorithm product, (2) Bootstrap (BT) algorithm product, and (3) a new version (Version 4) of the NOAA/NSIDC Climate Data Record (CDR) product. Most notable f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Remote Sensing
Main Authors: Walter N. Meier, J. Scott Stewart, Ann Windnagel, Florence M. Fetterer
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022
Subjects:
sea ice
remote sensing
passive microwave
Arctic
Antarctic
sea ice extent
Science
Q
The Antarctic
Antarc*
National Snow and Ice Data Center
Sea ice
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14030619
https://doaj.org/article/20a21d817de6471888c66bf2c3deb6ad
Description
Summary:Three passive microwave-based sea ice products archived at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) are compared: (1) the NASA Team (NT) algorithm product, (2) Bootstrap (BT) algorithm product, and (3) a new version (Version 4) of the NOAA/NSIDC Climate Data Record (CDR) product. Most notable for the CDR Version 4 is the addition of the early passive microwave record, 1979 to 1987. The focus of this study is on long-term trends in monthly extent and area. In addition to hemispheric trends, regional analysis is also carried out, including use of a new Northern Hemisphere regional mask. The results indicate overall good consistency between the products, with all three products showing strong statistically significant negative trends in the Arctic and small borderline significant positive trends in the Antarctic. Regionally, the patterns are similar, except for a notable outlier of the NT area having a steeper trend in the Central Arctic, likely related to increasing surface melt. Other differences are due to varied approaches to quality control, e.g., weather filtering and correction of mixed land-ocean grid cells. Another factor, particularly in regards to NT trends with BT or CDR, is the inter-sensor calibration approach, which yields small discontinuities between the products. These varied approaches yield small differences in trends. In the Arctic, such differences are not critical, but in the Antarctic, where overall trends are near zero and borderline statistically significant, the differences are potentially important in the interpretation of trends.

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