About 

The cryosphere exists at all latitudes, plays a significant role in climate studies, and is critical for accurate weather forecasts. It has profound socio-economic value due to its role in water resources and its impact on transportation, fisheries, hunting, herding, and agriculture. Snow and ice cover are among the key Earth’s surface characteristics influencing radiation budget, energy exchange between the land surface or ocean and the atmosphere, and water balance. Information on the spatial extent and distribution of snow and ice cover presents an important input to numerical weather prediction (NWP), hydrological and climate models.

Sea and lake ice influence the surface radiation budget and energy and moisture exchange between the atmosphere and the underlying water. It is one of the key factors to consider in the atmospheric circulation, numerical weather forecasting, and climate models. Ice cover is also important for planning commercial transport. Ice cover and concentration are among the most important indices in studying climate change. Accurate retrievals of ice cover and concentration are of high importance both to the scientific communities and to the general public.

As of June 5, 2023, three ice and snow data products from the GOES-R constellation will be available over the Satellite Broadcast Network (SBN). These include:

• Ice Concentration & Extent (including Ice Surface Temperature)
• Ice Age & Thickness
• Fractional Snow Cover

For the purposes of this guide, these will be referred to as IC&E, IA&T, and FSC.

Limitations

Higher Latitude Coverage: IC&E and IA&T are accurate up to 67 degrees Local Zenith Angle (LZA). FSC is accurate up to 55 degrees LZA and (as a daytime-only product) up to 67 degrees Solar Zenith Angle (SZA). The quality of the products degrade as the angles increase, significantly so past these thresholds. The approximate LZAs for each GOES satellite can be seen here.

Daytime Only: FSC is only available during daylight hours. Due to this, and the limited spatial coverage, FSC is significantly limited in winter months at high latitudes.

Cloud Cover: Data is only available for cloud-free pixels.

AWIPS 

Location: GOES-East and GOES-West By Sector → Full Disk → Derived Products → Snow Cover OR Cryosphere (Ice) → Choose Product

Color Maps: 

Ice Concentration, Surface Temperature: GOES-R/GOESR-L2/VTRSB
Ice Mask: GOES-R/GOESR-L2/IceMask_DayNight
Ice Thickness: GOES-R/GOESR-L2/VTRSB
3 Category: GOES-R/GOESR-L2/IceAge3
8 Category: GOES-R/GOESR-L2/IceAge8
FSC: GOES-R/GOESR-L2/FSC

Sampling:

IC&E: Ice Concentration in % 0-100
Ice Surface Temperature in Kelvin 100-275
Ice Mask as Day Ice or Night Ice
IA&T: Thickness in meters 0-3
3 category as Ice Free, First Year Ice, Older Ice
8 category as Ice Free, New Ice, Gray Ice, Gray White Ice, Thin First Year Ice, Medium First Year Ice, Thick First Year Ice, Old Ice
Fractional Snow Cover: 0.0-1.0

Quality Flags: DQF:flag_values = 0US, 1US, 2US, 3US; DQF:flag_meanings = "normal nonretrievable uncertain bad_data"

Technique: IC&E products are produced using ABI channels 2, 3, 5, 14, and 15. Its algorithm dependencies are cloud mask, solar zenith angle, and satellite viewing angle. Its ancillary data dependency is the land/water mask.
IA&T products are produced using a One-dimensional Thermodynamic Ice Model (OTIM), which depends on other derived products rather than ABI channels directly. See “Use Cases & More” for details.
FSC retrieval algorithm is a ratio of the reflectance difference between ABI Band 2 and the reflectance of snow-free land, over the difference between the reflectance of snow-covered land and snow-free land. Snow-covered land is determined using a two-step algorithm process. The first step - Initial Snow Identification - involves the Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI), ABI Bands 2, 3, 5, and 13, and spectral threshold-based decision tree algorithm. The second step - Consistency Testing - involves verifying the plausibility of identified snow against snow cover climatology, land surface temperature climatology, and surface elevation. See “Use Cases & More” for details.