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AMSR-E/Aqua Daily L3 12.5 km Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, & Snow Depth Polar Grids

Entry ID: AE_SI12

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Summary

Abstract: The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer - Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) instrument on the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) Aqua satellite, provides global passive microwave measurements of land, ocean, and atmospheric variables for the investigation of water and energy cycles. This Level-3 gridded product (AE_SI12) includes brightness temperatures at 18.7 through 89.0 GHz, sea ice concentration, and snow depth over sea ice. Data are mapped to a polar stereographic grid at 12.5 km spatial resolution. Sea ice concentration and brightness temperatures include daily ascending averages, daily descending averages, and daily averages; snow depth over sea ice data is a five-day running average. Data are stored in HDF-EOS format and are available from 19 June 2002 to present via FTP.

Description: Access the most current Nothern Hemisphere data as map images using the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS). A WMS for the Southern Hemisphere will be added soon.

Geographic Coverage

(Click for Interactive Map)

Spatial coordinates

N: -39.23

S: -90.0

E: 180.0

W: -180.0

N: 90.0

S: 30.98

E: 180.0

W: -180.0

Data Set Citation

Dataset Originator/Creator: D. Cavalieri and J. Comiso

Dataset Title: AMSR-E/Aqua Daily L3 12.5 km Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, & Snow Depth Polar Grids

Dataset Release Date: 2003-01-01

Dataset Release Place: Boulder, CO U.S.A.

Dataset Publisher: National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)

Version: 2

Online Resource: http://nsidc.org/data/ae_si12.html

Temporal Coverage

Start Date: 2002-06-19

Location Keywords

CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA

GEOGRAPHIC REGION > ARCTIC

GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR

Data Resolution

Latitude Resolution: 12.5 km
Longitude Resolution: 12.5 km
Horizontal Resolution Range: 10 km - < 50 km or approximately .09 degree - < .5 degree
Temporal Resolution: Daily
Temporal Resolution Range: Daily - < Weekly

Science Keywords

CRYOSPHERE > SEA ICE > SEA ICE CONCENTRATION

SPECTRAL/ENGINEERING > MICROWAVE > BRIGHTNESS TEMPERATURE

ISO Topic Category

CLIMATOLOGY/METEOROLOGY/ATMOSPHERE

Platform

AQUA > Earth Observing System, AQUA

Instrument

AMSR-E > Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-EOS

Project

EOS > Earth Observing System

EOSDIS > Earth Observing System Data Information System

ESIP > Earth Science Information Partners Program

CWIC > CEOS WGISS Integrated Catalog

Quality Weather filters are employed for the Level-3 sea ice products to eliminate spurious sea ice concentrations over open ocean resulting from varying atmospheric emission. The weather filters are based on threshold values for the spectral gradient radio and thresholds derived from TB differences. Sea ice products are checked to see if ice concentration values fall within reasonable limits. Diagnostics are based in part on satellite sea ice climatology developed since the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) era in 1978.

Ancillary Keywords

AE_SI12

AMSR-E

Data Set Progress

IN WORK

Data Center

NSIDC Distributed Active Archive Center

Data Center URL: http://nsidc.org/daac/index.html
Dataset ID: AE_SI121

Data Center Personnel
Name: NSIDC USER SERVICES Phone: +1 (303) 492-6199 Fax: +1 (303) 492-2468 Email: nsidc at nsidc.org Contact Address: National Snow and Ice Data Center CIRES, 449 UCB University of Colorado City: Boulder Province or State: CO Postal Code: 80309-0449 Country: USA

National Snow and Ice Data Center

Data Center URL: http://nsidc.org
Dataset ID: AE_SI121

Data Center Personnel
Name: NSIDC USER SERVICES Phone: +1 (303) 492-6199 Fax: +1 (303) 492-2468 Email: nsidc at nsidc.org Contact Address: National Snow and Ice Data Center CIRES, 449 UCB University of Colorado City: Boulder Province or State: CO Postal Code: 80309-0449 Country: USA

Distribution

Distribution Media: FTP

Distribution Size: Each daily granule is approximately 60 MB

Distribution Format: HDF-EOS

Personnel

DONALD J. CAVALIERI

Role: INVESTIGATOR

Phone: (301) 614-5901

Fax: (301) 614-5644

Email: donald.j.cavalieri at nasa.gov

Contact Address:

Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Code 614.1

City: Greenbelt

Province or State: MD

Postal Code: 20771

Country: USA

Publications/References

Cavalieri, D. and J. Comiso. 2000. Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document for the AMSR-E Sea Ice Algorithm, Revised December 1. Landover, MD, USA: Goddard Space Flight Center. Cavalieri, D.J., K.M. St. Germain, and C.T. Swift. 1995. Reduction of weather effects in the calculation of sea ice concentration with the DMSP SSM/I. Journal of Glaciology 41(139): 455-464. Cavalieri, D.J., P. Gloersen, and ... W.J. Campbell. 1984. Determination of sea ice parameters with the NIMBUS-7 SMMR. Journal of Geophysical Research 89(D4):5355-5369. Colbeck, S. C. 1982. An Overview of Seasonal Snow Metamorphism. Reviews of Geophysics Space Physics 20:45-61. Comiso, J., D. Cavalieri, and T. Markus. 2003. Sea ice concentration, ice temperature, and snow depth using AMSR-E data. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 41(2): 243-252. Comiso, J., and K. Steffen. 2001. Studies of Antarctic sea ice concentrations from satellite data and their applications. Journal of Geophysic
al Research 106(C12): 31,361-31,385. Comiso, J. C., D. J. Cavalieri, C. L. Parkinson, and P. Gloersen. 1997. Passive Microwave Algorithms for Sea Ice Concentration - A Comparison of Two Techniques. Remote Sensing of the Environment 60: 357-384. Comiso, J.C. 1995. SSM/I ice concentrations using the Bootstrap Algorithm. NASA RP 1380, 50 pp. Conway, D. 2002. Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer - EOS Quality Assurance Plan. Huntsville, AL: Global Hydrology and Climate Center. Eppler, D. T. and 14 others. 1992. Passive Microwave Signatures of Sea Ice, in Microwave Remote Sensing of Ice. Geophysical Monograph Series 68: 47-71. AGU, Washington, D.C. Fraser R. S., Gaut, N. E., Reifenstein, E. C., and H. Sievering. 1975. Interaction Mechanisms Within the Atmosphere Including the Manual of Remote Sensing. American Society of Photogrammetry 181-233. Falls Church, VA. Gloersen P. and D.J. Cavalieri. 1986. Reduction of weather effects in the calculation of sea ice concentration fr
om microwave radiances. Journal of Geophysical Research 91(C3):3913-3
919. Kelly, R. E., A. T. C. Chang, L. Tsang, and J. L. Foster. 2003. A Prototype AMSR-E Global Snow Area and Snow Depth Algorithm. IEEE Transactions Geoscience Remote Sensing 41: 230-242. Kummerow, C. 1993. On the accuracy of the Eddington approximation for radiative transfer in the microwave frequencies. Journal of Geophysical Research 98: 2757-2765. Markus, Thorsten and Donald J. Cavalieri. 2008. Supplement AMSR-E Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document: Sea Ice Products. Greenbelt, MD, USA: Goddard Space Flight Center. (view pdf) Markus, T. and D. Cavalieri. 1998. Snow depth distribution over sea ice in the Southern Ocean from satellite passive microwave data. Antarctic Sea Ice: Physical Processes, Interactions, and Variability. Antarctic Research Series 74:19-39. Washington, DC, USA: American Geophysical Union. Markus, T., and D. Cavalieri. 2000. An enhancement of the NASA Team sea ice algorithm. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 38: 1387-1398. Matzler
, C., R. O. Ramseier, and E. Svendsen. 1984. Polarization Effects in Sea-ice Signatures. IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering 9: 333-338. Pearson, F. 1990. Map projections: Theory and applications. CRC Press. Boca Raton, Florida. 372 pages. Snyder, J.P. 1987. Map projections - a working manual. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1395. U.S. Government Printing Office. Washington, D.C. 383 pages. Snyder, J. P. 1982. Map Projections Used by the U.S. Geological Survey. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1532. For more information regarding related publications, see the Research Using AMSR-E Data Web page.

Extended Metadata Properties

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Creation and Review Dates

DIF Creation Date: 2004-02-18

Last DIF Revision Date: 2011-03-16

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