SIN’XS – Sea Ice-thickness product iNter-comparison eXerciSe
The SIN’XS project, led by NOVELTIS in collaboration with AWI, LEGOS and UCL, is one of the activities funded by ESA in the frame of the Polar Science Cluster, with the objective to foster collaborative research and interdisciplinary networking actions.
In this framework, the SIN’XS project aims to define a reconciled estimate of Arctic and Antartic Sea-Ice Thickness.
In light of rapid changes of the Arctic and Antarctic Sea ice cover, continued and improved observations, understanding, and predictions of its thickness are particularly important for a range of fields from climate studies to offshore operations in ice. Systematic and accurate ice thickness observations are now available from several satellite missions.
However, they differ in the used processing algorithms and assumptions made therein, temporal and spatial coverage and resolution, and applicability to stakeholder needs like modelling and assimilation, numerical weather prediction, and ship routing. These differences between products have so far complicated the consistent use of the different data products, and there is little consensus about Arctic and Antarctic sea ice volume variability and change.
The Sea Ice-thickness product iNter-comparison eXerciSe (SIN’XS) will identify some of these gaps by carrying out in-depth intercomparisons of a wide range of satellite ice thickness products from altimetry and other methods, in close collaboration with an international community of scientific and operational sea ice experts.
It will develop joint protocols for the intercomparison of ice thickness products and their validation, using established approaches from the GEO/CEOS Quality Assurance framework for Earth Observation (QA4EO) and by further developing a framework for Fiducial Reference Measurements (FRMs).
SIN’XS will develop an online system to engage the community with data submission and to support scientific analysis and impact assessment of the data sets and intercomparisons.
The SIN’XS project will span from May 2022 to May 2025.
Latest News
- Standardized Grid Dimensions for SIN’XS Dataset SubmissionsWe are pleased to announce that, in the context of the SIN’XS project, standardized grid dimensions for datasets are now available. Following the launch of our open call for data submission, this standardization will enhance the uniformity and consistency… Read more: Standardized Grid Dimensions for SIN’XS Dataset Submissions
- Conversion Library for Sea Ice Parameters with Uncertainties PropagationWe are happy to inform you that a Conversion Library for Sea Ice Parameters with Uncertainties Propagation is now available in SIN’XS! The SIN’XS project aims to inter-compare various methods used to calculate sea ice thickness, a critical metric… Read more: Conversion Library for Sea Ice Parameters with Uncertainties Propagation
- Third SIN’XS workshop on the 4th and 5th of October 2023The SIN’XS assessment website is now available online [More details] and simultaneously the SIN’XS Third Workshop has been help on October 4 and 5, 2023 with the SAC and SG of the project. The agenda of this third SIN’XS… Read more: Third SIN’XS workshop on the 4th and 5th of October 2023