NSIDC-0218_1

Greenland Ice Sheet Melt Characteristics Derived from Passive Microwave Data, Version 1

Version 1 eng; usa
  • Abstract
    The Greenland ice sheet melt extent data, acquired as part of the NASA Program for Arctic Regional Climate Assessment (PARCA), is a daily (or every other day, prior to August 1987) estimate of the spatial extent of wet snow on the Greenland ice sheet since 1979. It is derived from passive microwave satellite brightness temperature characteristics using the Cross-Polarized Gradient Ratio (XPGR) of Abdalati and Steffen (1997). It is physically based on the changes in microwave emission characteristics observable in data from the Scanning Multi-channel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) and the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) instruments when surface snow melts. It is not a direct measure of the snow wetness but rather is a binary indicator of the state of melt of each SMMR and SSM/I pixel on the ice sheet for each day of observation. It is, however, a useful proxy for the amount of melt that occurs on the Greenland ice sheet. The data are provided in a variety of formats including raw data in ASCII format, gridded daily data in binary format, and annual and complete time series climatologies in gridded binary and GeoTIFF format. All data are in a 60 x 109 pixel subset of the standard Northern Hemisphere polar stereographic grid with a 25 km resolution and are available via FTP.
  • Purpose
    Scientific Research

Data Identification Fields:

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    Processing Level

    Level 3

    Quality
    Collection Progress

    Planned

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    Science Keywords
    • EARTH SCIENCE
    • Cryosphere
    • Snow/Ice
    • Snow Melt
    • EARTH SCIENCE
    • Terrestrial Hydrosphere
    • Snow/Ice
    • Snow Melt
    • EARTH SCIENCE
    • Cryosphere
    • Snow/Ice
    • Snow Melt
    • EARTH SCIENCE
    • Terrestrial Hydrosphere
    • Snow/Ice
    • Snow Melt
Other Descriptive Keywords
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ISO Topic Categories
  • IMAGERY/BASE MAPS/EARTH COVER
  • GEOSCIENTIFIC INFORMATION

Acquisition Information Fields:

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Platforms
  • Earth Observation Satellites
    DMSP 5D-2/F11
    Instruments
    • SSM/I
  • Earth Observation Satellites
    DMSP 5D-2/F13
    Instruments
    • SSM/I
  • Earth Observation Satellites
    DMSP 5D-2/F8
    Instruments
    • SSM/I
  • Earth Observation Satellites
    Nimbus-7
    Instruments
    • SMMR

Temporal Information Fields:

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Spatial Information Fields:

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    Coverage Type Zone Identifier Geometry Granule Representation
    HORIZONTAL CARTESIAN GEODETIC
Location Keywords
    • Continent
    • North America
    • Greenland

Data Centers

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  • National Snow and Ice Data Center
    ARCHIVER

    National Snow and Ice Data Center
    CIRES, 449 UCB
    University of Colorado
    Boulder, CO 80309-0449

    • 1 303 492 6199
    • 1 303 492 2468
    • Email
    http://nsidc.org
    • Home Page
  • National Snow and Ice Data Center
    DISTRIBUTOR

    National Snow and Ice Data Center
    CIRES, 449 UCB
    University of Colorado
    Boulder, CO 80309-0449

    • 1 303 492 6199
    • 1 303 492 2468
    • Email
    http://nsidc.org
    • Home Page

Data Contacts

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  • Waleed
    Technical Contact
    Waleed Abdalati

    Boulder, CO 80309

    http://nsidc.org
    • Home Page
  • Waleed
    Technical Contact
    Waleed Abdalati

    This contact does not have any addresses listed.

    This contact does not have any contact mechanisms listed.

  • National Snow and Ice Data Center
    User Services
    National Snow and Ice Data Center

    Boulder, Colorado

    This contact does not have any contact mechanisms listed.

    http://nsidc.org
    • Home Page
  • NSIDC
    Data Center Contact
    NSIDC Services

    National Snow and Ice Data Center

    CIRES, 449 UCB
    University of Colorado
    Boulder, CO 80309-0449

    • 1 303 492 6199
    • 1 303 492 2468
    • Email
    http://nsidc.org
    • Home Page
  • NSIDC
    Data Center Contact
    NSIDC Services

    National Snow and Ice Data Center

    CIRES, 449 UCB
    University of Colorado
    Boulder, CO 80309-0449

    • 1 303 492 6199
    • 1 303 492 2468
    • Email
    http://nsidc.org
    • Home Page

Collection Citations Fields:

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    Collection Citations
    • Greenland Ice Sheet Melt Characteristics Derived from Passive Microwave Data, Version 1
      1

      Published by: National Snow and Ice Data Center

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