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Description

This sea ice concentration data set was derived using measurements from the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) on the Nimbus-7 satellite and from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) sensors on the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's (DMSP) -F8, -F11, and -F13 satellites. Measurements from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) aboard DMSP-F17 are also included. The data set has been generated using the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer - Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) Bootstrap Algorithm with daily varying tie-points. Daily (every other day prior to July 1987) and monthly data are available for both the north and south polar regions. Data are gridded on the SSM/I polar stereographic grid (25 x 25 km) and provided in two-byte integer format. Data coverage began on 01 November 1978 and ended 31 December 2025.

Version Description

The NSIDC DAAC repackaged the data fields provided by GSFC in CF-compliant NetCDF files.

Product Summary

Platforms
DMSP 5D-2/F11 ,
DMSP 5D-2/F13 ,
DMSP 5D-2/F8 ,
DMSP 5D-3/F17 ,
Nimbus-7
Instruments
SSM/I ,
SSMIS ,
SMMR
Projects
PM-LT
Spatial Extent

N: 90 S: 30 E: 180 W: -180

,

N: -39 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Spatial Resolution
25 Kilometers x 25 Kilometers
Spatial Reference System(s)
Multiple EPSG codes (see User Guide)
Location
ANTARCTICA ,
HUDSON BAY ,
ARCTIC ,
POLAR ,
ARCTIC OCEAN ,
BELLINGSHAUSEN SEA ,
BERING SEA ,
DAVIS STRAIT ,
GULF OF ST LAWRENCE ,
INDIAN OCEAN ,
PACIFIC OCEAN ,
ROSS SEA ,
SEA OF OKHOTSK ,
WEDDELL SEA
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
1978-11-01 to 2025-12-31
Temporal Resolution
Varies
Concept ID
C3177837864-NSIDC_CPRD
Data State
ACTIVE
Number of Files/Granules
35580
Processing Level
3
Published
Science Keywords
Sea Ice Concentration

Citation

Citation is critically important for dataset documentation and discovery. This dataset is openly shared, without restriction, in accordance with the EOSDIS Data Use and Citation Guidance.

Copy Citation

Comiso, J. (2023). Bootstrap Sea Ice Concentrations from Nimbus-7 SMMR and DMSP SSM/I-SSMIS, Version 4 [Dataset]. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/X5LG68MH013O Date Accessed: 2026-10-05

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Publications Citing This Dataset

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Title Authors Year Referenced Datasets
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ASICast: a novel model for daily antarctic sea ice concentration prediction
  • Hu, Changhong, Ai, Songtao, Ali Shah, Shoukat, Ding, Xi, Cai, Yi, Chu, XinDe, Yuan, Hanxiao, Cui, Meng, Pimpirev, Christo, Peng, Fang
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Implications of Realistic Antarctic Ice Shelf Basal Melting During
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Increased future ocean heat uptake constrained by Antarctic sea ice extent
  • Vogt, Linus, de Lavergne, Casimir, Sallee, Jean-Baptiste, Kwiatkowski, Lester, Frolicher, Thomas L., Terhaar, Jens
Formation and fate of freshwater on an ice floe in the Central Arctic
  • Smith, Madison M., Fuchs, Niels, Salganik, Evgenii, Perovich, Donald K., Raphael, Ian, Granskog, Mats A., Schulz, Kirstin, Shupe, Matthew D., Webster, Melinda
Future Antarctic marine accessibility in a warming world
  • Hou, Yaqi, Min, Chao, Lin, Yichen, Luo, Hao, Shu, Qi, Liu, Jiping, Yang, Qinghua
The climate science, engineering and finance landscape
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Seasonal and Regional Antarctic Sea Ice Biases: A Closer Look at CMIP6
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The DOE E3SM version 2.1: overview and assessment of the impacts of parameterized ocean submesoscales
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The Pacific Arctic Region Has Become a Sink for Multiyear Sea Ice Coverage
  • Liang, Yu, Bi, Haibo, Chen, Xianyao, Chen, Yue, Wang, Xiaoyu
Toward a marginal Arctic sea ice cover: changes to freezing, melting and dynamics
  • Frew, Rebecca C., Bateson, Adam William, Feltham, Daniel L., Schroder, David
Half a century of dynamic instability following the ocean-driven break-up of Wordie Ice Shelf
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Constraints on the Projected Tropical SST Response to Greenhouse Warming
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Thermodynamics Drive Post-2016 Changes in the Antarctic Sea Ice Seasonal Cycle
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Impact of ocean heat transport on sea ice captured by a simple energy balance model
  • Aylmer, Jake R., Ferreira, David, Feltham, Daniel L.
Role of the subtropical southern Indian Ocean in the interannual variability of Antarctic summer sea ice
  • Xiao, Chunyan, Duan, Anmin, Yao, Yiyun, Tang, Yuheng, Wang, Qilu
The transition layer and remnant transition layer of the Western Arctic Ocean: Stratification, vertical diffusivity, and Pacific Summer Water heat fluxes
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Winter warm Arctic-cold Eurasia pattern and its statistical linkages to oceanic precursors during the era of satellite observations
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