EO·Atlas
Sea ice
Sea ice monitoring tracks ice presence, concentration, extent, type, thickness indicators, and navigation-relevant conditions across polar waters.[1][2][3]
Passive microwave sensors provide the long continuous satellite record for sea-ice concentration and extent because microwave contrast between ice and open water is observable day and night and through most clouds.[1][2]
SAR, including Sentinel-1, is a primary high-resolution route for operational ice charts, ice edge, iceberg, and navigation-relevant ice condition mapping.[3][2]
Sea-ice type, thickness, and freeboard require additional methods and validation, and concentration and extent are more mature than thickness retrieval.[1][2]
What's available today
2 data products and 32 sensors. Start with the most-used; switch to Filter for the full catalogue.
- [1]NASA Earth Observatory sea ice satellite record overviewagency doc2026-05-27
- [2]NSIDC science of sea ice and satellite productsagency doc2026-05-27
- [3]ESA Sentinel-1 oceans and ice applicationsagency doc2026-05-27
How to cite this page
Plain text
Sea ice. EO-Atlas, SpectraWorks B.V., last reviewed 2026-05-27. https://eo-atlas.org/topics/sea-ice (CC BY 4.0)
BibTeX
@misc{eoatlas:topics:sea-ice,
title = {Sea ice},
author = {{EO-Atlas}},
publisher = {SpectraWorks B.V.},
year = {2026},
note = {Last reviewed 2026-05-27. CC BY 4.0},
url = {https://eo-atlas.org/topics/sea-ice}
}