24 Oct 2025
| 24 Oct 2025
Status: this preprint is open for discussion and under review for The Cryosphere (TC).
Brief communication: Evaluation of the ESA CCI+ ESMR v1.1 sea-ice concentration product
Abstract. I evaluated a novel NIMBUS-5 Electrically Scanning Microwave Radiometer (ESMR) sea-ice concentration (SIC) data product. I manually classified 50 Landsat-1 Multispectral Scanner (MSS) images obtained in the Northern Hemisphere during 1974 into open water and ice. I mapped these onto the ESMR product’s grid (25 km resolution) and computed Landsat-1 SIC. The resulting ~3300 grid cells, covering mostly compact sea ice, have a mean difference (median), standard deviation, and linear correlation coefficient of -1.4 % (0.0 %), 6.0 %, and ~0.9, respectively. This suggests using this novel ESMR SIC data product as an extension of existing SIC climate data records back in time.
Publisher's note: Copernicus Publications remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims made in the text, published maps, institutional affiliations, or any other geographical representation in this paper. While Copernicus Publications makes every effort to include appropriate place names, the final responsibility lies with the authors. Views expressed in the text are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher.
