MODIS-Informed Specific Surface Area (SSA) of Greenland Bare Ice, 2000–2024

This dataset provides satellite-derived estimates of the specific surface area (SSA) of bare ice across the Greenland Ice Sheet during 2000–2024. SSA is a microstructural property that governs ice albedo and thus plays a key role in the ice sheet’s surface energy balance and melt–albedo feedback. Monthly mean SSA fields are provided on a 0.5° × 0.5° grid from May to September. This dataset supports process-based analyses of Greenland’s surface microstructure, evaluation of albedo parameterizations, and coupling of bare-ice physics into climate and ice-sheet models.