Snow Melt Onset Over Arctic Sea Ice from SMMR and SSM/I Brightness Temperatures, Version 1

Yearly snow melt onset dates over Arctic sea ice are derived from Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) and Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) brightness temperatures. The introduction of liquid water to snow results in a sharp increase in the emissivity and hence brightness temperature of the snowpack. Snow melt onset is defined as the point in time when microwave brightness temperatures increase sharply due to the presence of liquid water in the snowpack.

Data cover the years 1979 through 2007, and are in a polar stereographic grid at 25 km resolution. Tab-delimited ASCII files and GIF images are accessible via FTP. Several value-added products are also available.