Dataset Open Access

UHH Sea Ice Area Product

Thomae, Sarah; Rauschenbach, Quentin; Doerr, Jakob; Notz, Dirk; Kern, Stefan

Abstract: This data set comprises time series of the monthly sea-ice area (SIA) in the Northern Hemisphere (1 file) and in the Southern Hemisphere (1 file). SIA is derived from sea-ice concentration (SIC, also sea-ice area fraction) data of the following products: OSI SAF OSI-450a SIC climate data record / OSI-430a SIC interim climate data record, NOAA-NSIDC CDR, NASA-Team and Comiso-Bootstrap - all three from the NOAA/NSIDC SIC climate data record (version 4.0). The monthly SIA is either directly computed from monthly SIC data or is derived as the mean of all daily SIA values. If required, the observational gap at the pole is interpolated. If required, temporal interpolation is applied - both to fill temporal (up to a maximum of 7 consecutive days) and spatial (if less than 1000 non-contiguous missing grid cells per day) gaps.

Table of contents:

Northern Hemisphere: Comiso-Bootstrap monthly sea-ice area; NOAA-NSIDC CDR monthly sea-ice area; NASA-Team monthly sea-ice area; OSI SAF monthly sea-ice area

Southern Hemisphere: Comiso-Bootstrap monthly sea-ice area; NOAA-NSIDC CDR monthly sea-ice area; NASA-Team monthly sea-ice area; OSI SAF monthly sea-ice area

Technical Info: standard_name: sea-ice area; long_name: algorithm_specific hemispheric sea-ice area time-series; dimension: 2100; temporalExtent_startDate: 1850-01-01; temporalExtent_endDate: 2024-12-31; temporalResolution: monthly; spatialResolution: none; spatialResolutionUnit: none; horizontalResolutionXdirection: none; horizontalResolutionYdirection: none; verticalResolution: none; verticalResolutionUnit: none; verticalStart: none; verticalEnd: none; instrumentName: various SMMR SSM/I SSMIS; instrumentType: various multifrequency_microwave_radiometer; instrumentLocation: various Nimbus-7 DMSP-f8 DMSP-f11 DMSP-f13 DMSP-17; instrumentProvider: various 

Methods: See description on https://www.cen.uni-hamburg.de/en/icdc/data/cryosphere/uhh-sea-ice-area-product.html

Units (all variables): 1e6 km2

geoLocations:

Northern Hemisphere: westBoundLongitude: -180.0 degrees East; eastBoundLongitude: 180.0 degrees East; southBoundLatitude: 35.0 degrees North; northBoundLatitude: 90.0 degrees North; geoLocationPlace: Northern Hemisphere

Southern Hemisphere: westBoundLongitude: -180.0 degrees east; eastBoundLongitude: 180.0 degrees East; southBoundLatitude: -90.0 degrees North; northBoundLatitude: -35.0 degrees North; geoLocationPlace: Southern Hemisphere

Size:

Northern Hemisphere: 1 file, 4 variables, 2100 elements each (latest month with valid data is element 2099)

Southern Hemisphere: 1 file, 4 variables, 2100 elements each (latest month with valid data is element 2099)

Format: netCDF

DataSources:

https://doi.org/10.15770/EUM_SAF_OSI_0013  [last accessed: 2025-01-17]

https://doi.org/10.15770/EUM_SAF_OSI_0014  [last accessed: 2025-01-17]

https://nsidc.org/data/g02202 [last accessed: 2025-04-16]

Contact: uhhsia.ifm (at) uni-hamburg.de

Web page: https://www.cen.uni-hamburg.de/en/icdc/data/cryosphere/uhh-sea-ice-area-product.html

This data set can also be accessed from https://www.cen.uni-hamburg.de/en/icdc/data/cryosphere/uhh-sea-ice-area-product.html Note: The beginning of the time series (1850-01-01) was chosen to allow a more easy comparison to, e.g. , CMIP6 modeled sea-ice area of the historical or pi-control runs which usually begin 1850-01-01.
Files (879.9 kB)
Name Size
00_UHH_SeaIceArea_SampleImage_NH-09.png.png
md5:7c132575c09a9d066e7b7d17b5a45bfd 		324.3 kB Download
00_UHH_SeaIceArea_SampleImage_SH-03.png.png
md5:764f09b7358bf8095a5b8f2086702f43 		325.8 kB Download
SeaIceArea__NorthernHemisphere__monthly__UHH__v2025_fv0.01.nc
md5:2e51a0e75d689ad84889beb656e6901d 		114.9 kB Download
SeaIceArea__SouthernHemisphere__monthly__UHH__v2025_fv0.01.nc
md5:d04f0c154e8c35a565f301b9306dbec2 		114.9 kB Download
Publication date:
December 5, 2025
DOI:
10.25592/uhhfdm.18163

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Keyword(s):
Climate Research Marine Cryosphere Sea ice area Arctic Antarctic Observational data Time series monthly University of Hamburg University of Bergen ICDC
Subject(s):
Natural sciences
Earth and related environmental sciences
Related identifiers:
Cites:
https://zenodo.org/records/10014535
Continues:
10.25592/uhhfdm.11346
Derived from:
https://navigator.eumetsat.int/product/EO:EUM:DAT:0645, https://nsidc.org/data/g02202, 10.15770/EUM_SAF_OSI_0013
Documented by:
https://www.cen.uni-hamburg.de/en/icdc/data/cryosphere/uhh-sea-ice-area-product.html
Supplement to:
10.25592/uhhfdm.16126
Alternate identifiers:
10.25592/uhhfdm.8525
Communities:
License (for files):
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Versions

Version 2025_fv0.01 10.25592/uhhfdm.18163 Dec 5, 2025
Version 2024_fv0.01 10.25592/uhhfdm.11346 Mar 5, 2024
Version 2019_fv0.01 10.25592/uhhfdm.8559 Jan 20, 2021
Version v01_fv0.01 10.25592/uhhfdm.8526 Jan 18, 2021
Cite all versions? You can cite all versions by using the DOI 10.25592/uhhfdm.8525. This DOI represents all versions, and will always resolve to the latest one.

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