Bootstrap sea ice refers to a well-known algorithm used to estimate sea ice concentration from passive microwave brightness temperatures. It can be applied to data from many satellite instruments, such as SMMR, SSMI, and AMSR-E. This page discusses the algorithm itself and the long-term data set ("NSIDC 0079, version 2") produced by J. Comiso and distributed by NSIDC. The latest version of the Bootstrap data set has been completely reprocessed so that SMMR and SSMI data are inter-calibrated with AMSR-E data. The Bootstrap data set provides a long-term, consistently interpreted and calibrated record for studies of climate variability and change, but users should be aware of uncertainties and possible biases.
From NSIDC: Comiso, J. 1999, updated 2012. Bootstrap Sea Ice Concentrations from Nimbus-7 SMMR and DMSP SSM/I-SSMIS, [list dates you used]. Boulder, Colorado USA: National Snow and Ice Data Center. Digital media.
National Center for Atmospheric Research Staff (Eds). Last modified 01 Mar 2016. "The Climate Data Guide: Sea Ice Concentration data from NASA Goddard and NSIDC based on Bootstrap algorithm." Retrieved from https://climatedataguide.ucar.edu/climate-data/sea-ice-concentration-data-nasa-goddard-and-nsidc-based-bootstrap-algorithm.
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Created by: Climate Data Guide PIs and Staff