Near-Real-Time Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) Daily Polar Gridded Sea Ice Concentrations, Version 1

This Near-Real-Time Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) Daily Polar Gridded Sea Ice Concentrations (NRTSI) data set provides sea ice concentrations for both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The near-realtime passive microwave brightness temperature data that are used as input to this data set are acquired with the SSMIS on board the DMSP satellites. Starting with 1 April 2016, data from DMSPF18 are used. The SSMIS instrument is the next generation Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) instrument. SSMIS data are received daily from the Comprehensive Large Array-data Stewardship System (CLASS) at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and are gridded onto a polar stereographic grid. Investigators generate sea ice concentrations from these data using the NASA Team algorithm. These NRTSI data are primarily meant to provide a best estimate of current ice conditions based on information and algorithms available at the time the data are acquired. Near-real-time products are not intended for operational use in assessing sea ice conditions for navigation. In addition, the NRTSI data are processed as closely as possible to the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Sea Ice Concentrations from Nimbus-7 SMMR and DMSP SSM/I-SSMIS Passive Microwave Data, however, the NRTSI data should be used with caution in extending the GSFC sea ice time series