Annual Antarctic Surface Melt Maps (2011–12 to 2020–21) from SSMIS 19 GHz

Brief Communication: Estimating Antarctic Surface Melt Rates Using Passive Microwave DataValeria Di Biase, Peter Kuipers Munneke, Bert Wouters, Michiel R. van den Broeke, and Maurice van Tiggelen OverviewThis repository accompanies our Brief Communication: Estimating Antarctic Surface Melt Rates Using Passive Microwave Data. This upload contains a series of GeoTIFF files representing annual Antarctic surface melt volume and annual Antarctic number of melt days, derived from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) 19 GHz brightness temperatures. The dataset spans ten melt seasons — from austral winter of 2011–12 through 2020–21. Data Source SSMIS daily brightness temperatures at 19 GHz. Antarctic mask provided by the MEaSUREs Antarctic Boundaries Version 2 dataset. Contents One Melt Volume GeoTIFF per melt season, named Totmelt_mask_jun_YYYY_may_ZZZZ.tif (e.g., Totmelt_mask_jun_2011_may_2012) Pixel units: mean annual surface melt in mm water equivalent File structure: 3-band GeoTIFF - Band 1: Expected cumulative annual melt volume estimated using the AWS reference setup as defined in the associated publication (Fig. 2(a)). - Band 2: Lower annual cumulative value estimate based on the lower confidence interval defined in the associated publication (Fig. 2(a)). - Band 3: Upper annual cumulative value estimate based on the upper confidence interval defined in the associated publication (Fig. 2(a)). These bounds provide an uncertainty range for the melt volume, accounting for variability in melt detection sensitivity. One Number of Melt days GeoTIFF per melt season, named Melt_days_jun_YYYY_may_ZZZZ.tif (e.g., Melt_days_jun_2011_may_2012.tif Pixel units: number of annual days with positive melt Spatial resolution: enhanced SSMIS 19GHz resolution (~6.25 km) Projection: Antarctic Polar Stereographic (EPSG:3031) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mouginot, J., Rignot, E., & Scheuchl, B. (2017). MEaSUREs Antarctic Boundaries Version 2. https://doi.org/10.5067/AXE4121732AD