The weekly analysis grids are given in standardized binary data format (Network common data form: NetCDF v4). The variables are given as grid arrays, see therefore Table 1. All grids are projected onto the 25 km EASE2 Grid, which is based on a polar aspect spherical Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection (Figure 1). NetCDF files are formatted according to CF conventions: CF-1.6 ACDD-1.3.
Figure 1: Specifications of the EASE2 25 km grid, which is used for the merged product.
Variable
Description
Unit
Type
Dimension
Lambert_Azimuthal_Grid
-
-
int
-
time_bnds
-
seconds since 1978-01-01 00:00:00
int
2
analysis_ice_thickness
CS2SMOS merged sea ice thickness
m
Int
1,432,432
background_ice_thickness
optimal interpolation background field
m
Int
1,432,432
weighted_mean_ice_thickness
weighted mean of weekly cs2 and smos ice thickness retrievals
m
Int
1,432,432
innovation
difference between background and analysis ice thickness