Arctic Ocean-Surface Stress Analysis, 2011-2018

This record contains data related to article "Satellite-derived Ocean-surface Stress and Ekman Circulation in the Arctic Ocean". The ocean-surface stress is the key to understanding the interplay between the Arctic Ocean, sea ice, and the atmosphere. This study presents a high-resolution, daily analysis of ocean-surface stress and Ekman circulation over the Arctic Ocean based on satellite observations from various platforms. Using an iterative approach, we generate a record of ocean-surface stress in the  Arctic, spanning between 2011 and 2018.

The dataset (netcdf) contains the following key output variables: the zonal and meridional components of ocean-surface stress (TAUx, TAUy), the Ekman pumping rate (We), as well as their error matrix based on the sensitivity analysis. The data files also include, as auxiliary fields, (i) adjusted ice motion (based on Polar Pathfinder v4, https://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0116/versions/4), (ii) adjusted geostrophic velocity (3-day Arctic sea surface height datasets, https://doi.org/10.24400/527896/a01-2020.001), (iii) number of iterations until convergence. It also includes the ice concentration (https://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0051/) in which the land mask can be retrieved. 

All data are projected on a 25 km EASE2 grid on a daily basis. The latitude-longitude grid is provided.