This dataset consists of sea ice indicators for the Arctic based on daily sea ice concentrations derived from satellite passive microwave measurements. The four indicators available are day of break-up start, day of break-up end, day of freeze-up start, and day of freeze-up end. These “day of year” values indicate the ordinal day of the ice-year on which the event occurred. The ice-year is defined as September 1 through August of the following year. Locally defined indicators can serve as key links between pan-Arctic or global indicators such as sea-ice extent or volume and local uses of sea ice, with the potential to inform community-scale adaptation and response.

This data set includes weekly (January 1954 to December 2013) and monthly (January 1850 to December 2022) midpoint historical sea ice concentration (0 - 100%) estimates at 1/4 x 1/4 degree spatial resolution for the ocean region around the state of Alaska, USA. This value-added dataset was developed by compiling the below historical data sources into spatially and temporally standardized datasets. Gaps in temporal or spatial resolutions were filled in with spatial and temporal analog month approaches. This dataset is no longer being updated. The NSIDC provides a new version in netCDF format receiving ongoing updates: https://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0051/versions/2.