National Weather Service Alaska Sea Ice Program: gridded ice concentration maps for the Alaskan Arctic
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: . There are many challenges associated with obtaining high-fidelity sea ice concentration (SIC) information, and products that rely solely on passive microwave measurements often struggle to represent conditions at low concentration, especially within the Marginal Ice Zone and during periods of active melt. Here, we present a new SIC product for the Alaskan Arctic generated by the National Weather Service Alaska Sea Ice Program (hereafter referred to as ASIP) that synthesizes a variety of satellite SIC and in-situ observations from 2007–present. These SIC fields have been primarily used for operational purposes and have not yet been gridded or independently validated. In this study, we first grid the ASIP product into 0.05° resolution in both latitude and longitude. We then perform extensive intercomparison with an international database of ship-based in-situ SIC observations, supplemented with observations from Saildrones. Additionally, an intercomparison between three ice products is performed: (i) ASIP, (ii) a high-resolution passive microwave product (AMSR2), and (iii) an operational product available from the National Snow and Ice Data Center that originates at the National Ice Center (MASIE). This intercomparison demonstrates that all products perform similarly when compared to in-situ observations generally, but ASIP outperforms the other products during periods of active melt and in low SIC regions. Furthermore, we show that the similarity in performance among products is due to the in-situ asset distribution, as most in-situ observations are far from the ice edge in locations where all products agree. We find that the ASIP ice edge is generally farther south than both the AMSR2 and MASIE ice edges, by an average of approximately 55 km in the winter and 175 km in summer for ASIP vs. AMSR2, and 60 km in the winter and 130 km in the summer for ASIP vs. MASIE.
Source: The cryosphere
Language: English
Subfield: Atmospheric Science
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,574
Awards: G1391924305, G3134223104, THIS PROJECT BUILDS ON THE SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIP DEVELOPED FOR THE MULTI-SENSOR IMPROVED SEA-SURFACE TEMPERATURE (MISST) FOR IOOS PROJECT (2011-2017). THE PROPOSED WORK WILL PICK UP WHERE MISST LEFT OFF IN 2017 WITH MANY OF THE SAME OBJECTIVES; THEREFORE WE WILL REFER TO THE NEW PROJECT IN THIS PROPOSAL AS MISST AS WELL. THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS NEW PROJECT ARE TO (I) CONTINUE TO IMPROVE DATA DISTRIBUTION AND INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIP ACTIVITIES (II) INCORPORATE NEW 2 USE OR DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THIS SHEET IS SUBJECT TO THE RESTRICTION ON THE COVER PAGE OF THIS PROPOSAL. SATELLITE DATA AND NEW ALGORITHMS FOR SST ANALYSIS AND (III) FOCUS ON IMPROVING THE ACCURACY OF SATELLITE-DERIVED SSTS IN THE ARCTIC., G7160222795, G7381655226
OpenAlex ID: W4408919372