Versions Compared

Key

  • This line was added.
  • This line was removed.
  • Formatting was changed.


Excerpt

Sea ice products are continuously updated to include scientific and technical improvements. We aim for a yearly update cycle for the AWI CryoSat-2 sea-ice data, which is implemented at the start of the Arctic winter season on Oct. 1st. An update of the algorithm includes a re-processing of the full CryoSat-2 data record. Each update contains algorithm evolutions (changes of the processing evolutions) and system evolutions (changes of the code or input data sets).

Table of Contents
typeflat


Summary


v1.2v2.0v2.1v2.2v2.3v2.4
PlatformCryoSat-2CryoSat-2CryoSat-2CryoSat-2CryoSat-2CryoSat-2
TimelinessReprocessed (+1 month)Reprocessed (+33 days)
Near-real time (+2 days)

Reprocessed (+33 days)
Near-real time (+2 days)

Reprocessed (+33 days)
Near-real time (+2 days)

Reprocessed (+33 days)
Near-real time (+2 days)

Reprocessed (+33 days)

Near-real time (+2 days)

Coverage Start2010-112010-112010-112010-112010-112010-11
Coverage End2017-042018-042019-042020-042021-042022-04 
Product LevelsL3C (monthly grids)L2P (daily trajectory)
L3C (monthly grids)

L2P (daily trajectory)
L3C (monthly grids)

L2P (daily trajectory)
L3C (monthly grids)

L2P (daily trajectory)
L3C (monthly grids)

L2P (daily trajectory)
L3C (monthly grids)

Status

Status
subtletrue
colourRed
titlediscontinued

Status
subtletrue
colourRed
titlediscontinued

Status
subtletrue
colourRed
titlediscontinued

Status
subtletrue
colourRed
titlediscontinued

Status
subtletrue
colourRed
titlediscontinued

Status
colourGreen
titleactive

Documentationepic.awi.de
epic.awi.deepic.awi.deepic.awi.deepic.awi.de


Changelog

Fall 2021 Update (v2.4)

Input Data

  • CryoSat-2 ICE baseline E data as primary altimeter data now used for the operational near real-time and reprocessed data generation from October 2021 and later. The previous data record (Nov 2010 till April 2021) is based on the previous L1B version (ICE baseline D).

Auxiliary Data

  • Updated C3S sea ice type (interim) climate data record from version 1 to version 2 (reprocessed data only).
  • Updated OSI-SAF operational sea ice type to version OSI-403-d.
  • Updated mean sea surface from DTU15 to DTU21.

Algorithm

  • Surface type classification: Sea ice mask is now based on 15% sea ice concentration threshold. The threshold was 70% in previous versions.
  • Used `uncertainty´ field in OSI-403-d sea ice type files instead of parametrization based on `confidence` flags of previous versions.
  • The sea ice thickness quality flag is no longer automatically set to ‘intermediate’ outside the central Arctic basin.

Product format and content

  • Flag values of the status flag (l3c variable `status_flag`) have been changed. Flag value 0 is now `nominal` and other values have been shifted accordingly.
  • Flag values of the quality flag (l3c variable `quality_flag`) have been changed. Flag value 0 is now `nominal` and the ‘no data’ has been moved to flag value 3.
  • Various changes to the global and variable attributes to improve compliance with newer versions of the Climate & Forecast (CF) and Attribute Convention for Dataset Discovery (ACDD) standards.

Level-1 Pre-Processor

  • Added L1 preprocessor for CryoSat-2 L1b for ICE baseline-E.

Fall 2020 Update (v2.3)

Input Data

  • CryoSat-2 baseline-D data as primary altimeter data now used for the full reprocessed data record since November 2010.

Auxiliary Data

  • Switched C3S sea-ice concentration (interim) climate data record from v1.2 to v2.0
  • Reverted mean sea surface from DTU18 to DTU15
  • Optimized sea-ice type information near coasts and in the Canadian Archipelago

 

Algorithm

  • Updated computation of wave speed correction in the snow layer following Mallett et al., 2020
  • Used hemisphere-wide snow density values following Mallett et al., 2020
  • Snow depth and density values are updated daily instead of monthly to avoid freeboard and thickness discontinuities at a change of month
  • Optimizations in the estimation of along-track sea-level anomaly

Product format and content

  • Field sea level anomaly is now named ´sea_level_anomaly´ instead of ´sea_surface_height_anomaly´

Level-1 Pre-Processor

  • Fixed an issue that resulted in loss of data for the SARin radar mode (most severe in the Canadian Archipelago). Data was rejected based on an incorrect interpretation of the measurement confidence flag for baseline-D SARin data files.

Fall 2019 Update (v2.2)

Input Data

  • CryoSat-2 baseline-D data as primary altimeter data since April 28, 2019. NOTE: In v2.2 the reprocessed grid products consist of a mix between baseline-C and baseline-D

Auxiliary Data

  • Use C3S (interim) climate data records of sea ice concentration as auxiliary data for the reprocessed data stream. This fixes an issue with evolving land masks in the OSI-SAF operational products, which will not be reprocessed to a consistent standard. The C3S sea ice type is also known to be more precise in the marginal ice zone

Level-1 Pre-Processor

  • Added support for the new ESA baseline-D netCDF format
  • Increased the regional subset from 50N – 88N in version 2.1 to 45N – 88N

Level-2 Processor

  • Split algorithm between near-real time and reprocessed with timeliness dependent choice of validation data
  • Removed requirement of having a minimum of 3 leads in each orbit.
  • Added sea ice draft and sea ice draft uncertainty as output variables
  • Renamed freeboard to sea ice freeboard to be in line with the variables standard name

Level-3 Processor

  • Added sea ice draft and sea ice draft uncertainty as output variables
  • Renamed freeboard to sea ice freeboard to be in line with the variables standard name
  • Removed the average Level-2 orbit-based uncertainty for radar freeboard, sea-ice freeboard and sea-ice thickness
  • All statistical variables are now named with a “stat_” prefix in the variable name for clarity
  • Added temporal statistics variables (see Temporal Coverage per grid cell5.2)
  • Added the fraction of negative thicknesses per grid cell as statistical parameter
  • Added geotiff output (variable sea-ice thickness only) for all gridded products