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Description

This data set reports average daily horizontally and vertically polarized brightness temperatures; sea ice concentrations; and snow depths over sea ice on 12.5 km resolution north and south polar stereographic grids. Ungridded sea ice motion data are also available for the Arctic. The data are derived from observations acquired by the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR) for EOS (AMSR-E) and AMSR2 instruments that have been spatially resampled by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to unify the AMSR-E and AMSR2 missions.

Brightness temperatures are available at 18.7 GHz, 23.8 GHz, 36.5 GHz and 89.0 GHz for ascending and descending orbits, and as a single daily average. Sea ice concentrations are generated with the Enhanced NASA Team (NT2) algorithm; a separate variable reports the daily sea ice concentration difference between the legacy AMSR Basic Bootstrap Algorithm (ABA) and the NT2.

Version Description

Initial release

Product Summary

Platforms
Aqua ,
GCOM-W1
Instruments
AMSR-E ,
AMSR2
Spatial Extent

N: -39.23 S: -89.24 E: 180 W: -180

,

N: 89.24 S: 30.98 E: 180 W: -180

Spatial Resolution
12.5 Kilometers x 12.5 Kilometers
Spatial Reference System(s)
Multiple EPSG codes (see User Guide)
Location
POLAR
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2012-07-02
Temporal Resolution
1 Day
Concept ID
C3243521611-NSIDC_CPRD
Data State
COMPLETE
Number of Files/Granules
8177
Processing Level
3
Published
Science Keywords
Brightness Temperature ,
Sea Ice Concentration ,
Sea Ice Motion ,
Snow Depth

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

Meier, W., Markus, T., & Comiso, J. (2018). AMSR-E/AMSR2 Unified L3 Daily 12.5 km Brightness Temperatures, Sea Ice Concentration, Motion & Snow Depth Polar Grids, Version 1 [Dataset]. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/RA1MIJOYPK3P Date Accessed: 2026-07-08

Documents

Publications Citing This Dataset

Filters
Title Year Author Topic
Assessment of Antarctic Sea Ice Cover in CMIP6 Prediction with Li, Siqi, Zhang, Yu, Chen, Changsheng, Zhang, Yiran, Xu, Danya, Hu, Song Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Sea Ice Motion, Snow Depth
Characterization of the Spatial Distribution of the Thermodynamic Phase Within Mixed-Phase Clouds Using Satellite Observations Coopman, Q., Tan, I. Dust/Ash/Smoke, Carbonaceous Aerosols, Organic Particles, Sulfate Particles, Sulfur Oxides, Sulfur Compounds, Sulfate, Sulfur Dioxide, Sulfur Oxides, Dimethyl Sulfide, Aerosol Particle Properties, Particulate Matter, Aerosols, Surface Pressure, Pressure Thickness, Relative Humidity, Sea Salt, Black Carbon, Air Mass/Density, Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Sea Ice Motion, Snow Depth
Evidence of Abrupt Transitions Between Sea Ice Dynamical Regimes in the East Greenland Marginal Ice Zone Watkins, Daniel M., Bliss, Angela C., Hutchings, Jennifer K., Wilhelmus, Monica M. Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Sea Ice Motion, Snow Depth
Latest Altimetry-Based Sea Ice Freeboard and Volume Inter-Annual Garnier, Florent, Bocquet, Marion, Fleury, Sara, Bouffard, Jerome, Tsamados, Michel, Remy, Frederique, Garric, Gilles, Chenal, Aliette Sea Ice Concentration, Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Motion, Snow Depth, Sea Ice Elevation
The sensitivity of satellite microwave observations to liquid water in Picard, Ghislain, Leduc-Leballeur, Marion, Banwell, Alison F., Brucker, Ludovic, Macelloni, Giovanni Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Sea Ice Motion, Snow Depth
The role of oceanic heat flux in reducing thermodynamic ice growth in Kirillov, Sergei, Dmitrenko, Igor, Babb, David G., Ehn, Jens K., Koldunov, Nikolay, Rysgaard, Sren, Jensen, David, Barber, David G. Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Sea Ice Motion, Snow Depth, Snow Water Equivalent, Sea Ice Elevation
Southern Ocean ice charts at the Argentine Naval Hydrographic Service and their impact on safety of navigation Scardilli, Alvaro S., Salvo, Constanza S., Saez, Ludmila Gomez Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Sea Ice Motion, Snow Depth
Surface melt on the Shackleton Ice Shelf, East Antarctica (2003-2021) Saunderson, Dominic, Mackintosh, Andrew, McCormack, Felicity, Jones, Richard Selwyn, Picard, Ghislain Basins, Coastline, Grounding Line, Ice Shelves, Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Sea Ice Motion, Snow Depth, Brightness Temperature
A Suitable Retrieval Algorithm of Arctic Snow Depths with AMSR-2 and Its Dong, Zhaoqing, Shi, Lijian, Lin, Mingsen, Zeng, Tao Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Sea Ice Motion, Snow Depth
Arctic Sea Ice Type Classification by Combining CFOSCAT and AMSR2 Data Xu, Rui, Zhao, Chaofang, Zhai, Xiaochun, Chen, Ge Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Sea Ice Motion, Snow Depth
Estimation of Sea Ice Production in the North Water Polynya Based on Ice Arch Duration in Winter During 20062019 Ren, Haiyi, Shokr, Mohammed, Li, Xinqing, Zhang, Zhilun, Hui, Fengming, Cheng, Xiao Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Sea Ice Motion, Snow Depth, Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Snow Depth
Year-round sea ice and snow characterization from combined passive and active microwave observations and radiative transfer modeling Soriot, Clement, Picard, Ghislain, Prigent, Catherine, Frappart, Frederic, Domine, Florent Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Sea Ice Motion, Snow Depth
Retrieval of Snow Depth on Arctic Sea Ice from the FY3B/MWRI Li, Lele, Chen, Haihua, Guan, Lei Freeboard, Ice Depth/Thickness, Ice Roughness, Sea Ice Elevation, Snow Depth, Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Sea Ice Motion, Sea Ice Concentration, Snow Depth
Passive microwave signatures and retrieval of high-latitude snowfall over open oceans and sea ice: Insights from coincidences of GPM and CloudSat satellites Vahedizade, Sajad, Ebtehaj, Ardeshir, You, Yalei, Ringerud, Sarah E., Turk, F. Joseph Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Sea Ice Motion, Snow Depth
The ice factory of Hudson Bay: Spatiotemporal variability of the Kivalliq Polynya Bruneau, Jennifer, Babb, David, Chan, Wayne, Kirillov, Sergei, Ehn, Jens, Hanesiak, John, Barber, David G. Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Sea Ice Motion, Snow Depth, Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Snow Depth
Advances in altimetric snow depth estimates using bi-frequency SARAL and CryoSat-2 Ka-Ku measurements Garnier, Florent, Fleury, Sara, Garric, Gilles, Bouffard, Jerome, Tsamados, Michel, Laforge, Antoine, Bocquet, Marion, Fredensborg Hansen, Renee Mie, Remy, Frederique Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Sea Ice Motion, Snow Depth
Antarctic snow-covered sea ice topography derivation from TanDEM-X using polarimetric SAR interferometry Huang, Lanqing, Fischer, Georg, Hajnsek, Irena Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Sea Ice Motion, Snow Depth, VISIBLE IMAGERY
Atmospheric extremes caused high oceanward sea surface slope triggering the biggest calving event in more than 50 years at the Amery Ice Shelf Francis, Diana, Mattingly, Kyle S., Lhermitte, Stef, Temimi, Marouane, Heil, Petra Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Sea Ice Motion, Snow Depth
Case study of blowing snow impacts on the Antarctic Peninsula low atmosphere and surface simulated over with a snow/ice enhanced WRF model Luo, Liping, Zhang, Jing, Hock, Regine, Yao, Yao Emissivity, Land Surface Temperature, Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Sea Ice Motion, Snow Depth
Satellite-retrieved sea ice concentration uncertainty and its effect on modelling wave evolution in marginal ice zones Nose, Takehiko, Waseda, Takuji, Kodaira, Tsubasa, Inoue, Jun Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Sea Ice Motion, Snow Depth
Multi-scale observations of the co-evolution of sea ice thermophysical properties and microwave brightness temperatures during the summer melt period in Hudson ... Harasyn, Madison L., Isleifson, Dustin, Chan, Wayne, Barber, David G. Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Sea Ice Motion, Snow Depth
Classification of sea ice summer melt features in highresolution IceBridge imagery Buckley, Ellen M., Farrell, Sinead L., Duncan, Kyle, Connor, Laurence N., Kuhn, John M., Dominguez, RoseAnne T. Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Sea Ice Motion, Snow Depth, VISIBLE IMAGERY
An Attempt to Improve Snow Depth Retrieval Using Satellite Microwave Radiometry for Rough Antarctic Sea Ice Kern, Stefan, Ozsoy, Burcu Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Sea Ice Motion, Snow Depth, Brightness Temperature, Sea Ice Concentration, Snow Depth
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