Background

The Satellite Needs Working Group (SNWG)-2018 Assessment found that agencies would benefit significantly from reduced latency of lake ice freeboard thickness measurements from ICESat-2, specifically over the Great Lakes region for navigation, commerce, and safety. This effort focused on reducing latency from the original 45-day science mode data latency to 3 days, thereby helping to satisfy the SNWG agencies' satellite needs.

Status

The team has operationally released reduced-latency versions of existing products for ICESat-2 and analyzed the uncertainty of these products. This has been a necessary step toward the capability for a low-latency lake ice freeboard thickness product. The five expedited products are now discoverable through NASA's Land, Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for Earth observing systems (LANCE) and available at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). Higher quality, longer-latency products remain available in the permanent data archive. The team has begun investigating a new algorithm approach for the proposed lake ice thickness data product. This approach builds on the ATLAS/ICESat-2 Level 3A Sea Ice Freeboard Quick Look (ATL10QL) product and a new ice-water discrimination algorithm for lakes from the ATLAS/ICESat-2 Level 3A Along Track Inland Surface Water Data Quick Look (ATL13QL) product.

Specific Products

• Sea Ice Height Quick Look (ATL07QL; doi:10.5067/ATLAS/ATL07QL.005)
• ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3A  Land and Vegetation Height Quick Look (ATL08QL; doi:10.5067/ATLAS/ATL08QL.005)
• Calibrated Backscatter Profiles and Atmospheric Layer Characteristics Quick Look (ATL09QL; doi:10.5067/ATLAS/ATL09QL.005)
• Sea Ice Freeboard Quick Look (ATL10QL; doi:10.5067/ATLAS/ATL10QL.005)
• Along Track Inland Surface Water Data Quick Look (ATL13QL; doi:10.5067/ATLAS/ATL13QL.005)

Solution Characteristics

Societal Impact

The low-latency ICESat-2/ATLAS products help provide accurate ice mapping for safe commercial shipping and fishing, all of which are vital to the economic interests of the Great Lakes region. The low latency data have had broad impacts beyond just the monitoring and supporting icebreaker transits through sea ice regions.

Solution Resources

Need help using solution? SNWG's Stakeholder Engagement Program (SEP) curates relevant training resources focused on how to access and use SNWG solutions. For each solution, resources are aggregated into the following categories: Fundamentals of Remote Sensing, Missions and Instruments, Data Products and Descriptions, Data Access and Code Examples, and Use Case and Application Examples. The resources below are for the ICESat-2 Quick Look products. You can directly access these data here: ICESat-2 Quick Look. More information is also available through NSIDC and LANCE.

Training Resources