Uncertainty of the satellite-retrieved sea-ice area record and its trend

Wernecke, Andreas; Lavergne, Thomas; Kern, Stefan; Notz, Dirk

doi:10.5194/tc-20-3783-2026

Articles | Volume 20, issue 7

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-3783-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-3783-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 20, issue 7

Research article

|

06 Jul 2026

Research article |

| 06 Jul 2026

Uncertainty of the satellite-retrieved sea-ice area record and its trend

Andreas Wernecke, Thomas Lavergne, Stefan Kern, and Dirk Notz

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-3783-2026-supplement

Data sets

Sea Ice Area Ensemble for Uncertainty Quantification Andreas Wernecke https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17464350

Global Sea Ice Concentration Climate Data Record v3.0 -- Multimission EUMETSAT OSI SAF https://doi.org/10.15770/EUM_SAF_OSI_0023

Global Sea Ice Concentration Interim Climate Data Record Release 3 -- DMSP EUMETSAT OSI SAF https://doi.org/10.15770/EUM_SAF_OSI_0014

UHH Sea-Ice Area product (Version 2024_fv0.01) Q. Rauschenbach et al. https://doi.org/10.25592/uhhfdm.11346

UHH Sea-Ice Area product (Version 2025_fv0.01) S. Thomae et al. https://doi.org/10.25592/uhhfdm.18163

Short summary

We analyse the types and size of uncertainties in satellite measurements of the global sea ice cover. These measurements give insights into the state of the climate system and quality of climate models. We derive uncertainties for one satellite product and compare it with other products. We find that offsets do play a role for measurements of the total sea ice cover, but also for estimates of its change. This calls for further investigations into the reasons for these offsets.