Theme 5 - Cryosphere and Polar Oceans - of the National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) is aimed at resolving uncertainties in future climate and sea-level arising from behaviour of the cryosphere. Under this theme, 5 year time series Ice thickness data used by Katharine Giles, Seymour Laxon and Andy Ridout in their paper "Circumpolar thinning of Arctic sea ice following the 2007 record ice extent minimum" (Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 35, L22502, doi:10.1029/2008GL035710, 2008) are presented.

This dataset has been produced as part of the Theme 5 (Cryosphere and Polar Oceans) in the National Centre for Earth Observation which aims to use new EO data to quantify changes in the mass balance of the cryosphere and to develop new models to represent the relevant processes in coupled climate prediction models. This dataset holds timeseries of Greenland glacier velocity fluctuations as maps for the period March-July 2011. The 37 velocity maps were derived from SAR data acquired during the 2011 ERS-2 3-day campaign. The velocity maps are 3-day velocity averages and are given in meters per year (m/y) (magnitude values). The name of the velocity files provides the start and end date of each 3-day period. The velocity fields were transformed to map coordinates using the GLAS/ICESat 1 km Laser Altimetry Digital Elevation Model of Greenland which is provided at Polar Stereographic grids (DiMarzio, J., Brenner, A., Schutz, R., Schuman, A. & Zwally, H.J. (2007)): GLAS/ICESat 1 km laser altimetri digital elevation model of Greenland. Boulder, Colorado USA: National Snow and Ice Data Centre. Digital media).

This dataset contains the fractional contributions of three phytoplankton size classes (micro-, nano- and picoplankton) over the globe for the period 1997-2007, as produced by the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) using SeaWIFs data. A 10 year monthly climatology is available together with accompanying maps. This dataset was produced as part of the National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) Theme 2 programme (Monitoring, Diagnosis and Prediction of the Global Carbon-Cycle), Quantification of ocean biogeochemistry and carbon fluxes sub-theme 6 (ST6).

This dataset contains the fractional contributions of three phytoplankton size classes (micro-, nano- and picoplankton) in monthly averages over the globe for the period 1997-2007, as produced by the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) using SeaWIFs data (The dataset was produced by the Plymouth Marine Laboratory by applying the algorithm of Brewin et al. (2010) directly to monthly SeaWiFS Level 3 composites of chlorophyll on a pixel-by-pixel basis.). A 10 year monthly climatology is also available as a separate dataset. Accompanying maps are available. This dataset was produced as part of the National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) Theme 2 programme (Monitoring, Diagnosis and Prediction of the Global Carbon-Cycle), Quantification of ocean biogeochemistry and carbon fluxes sub-theme 6 (ST6).

This dataset has been produced as part of the Theme 5 (Cryosphere and Polar Oceans) in the National Centre for Earth Observation which aims to use new EO data to quantify changes in the mass balance of the cryosphere and to develop new models to represent the relevant processes in coupled climate prediction models. This dataset holds timeseries of Greenland glacier calving front fluctuations as maps and backscatter intensity images for the period March-July 2011. The dataset consists of 38 SAR backscatter images acquired every 3 days between the 12th March and 1st July 2011 during the ERS-2 3-day campaign. The backscatter data were transformed to map coordinates using the GLAS/ICESat 1 km Laser Altimetry Digital Elevation Model of Greenland which is provided at Polar Stereographic grids (DiMarzio, J., Brenner, A., Schutz, R., Schuman, A. & Zwally, H.J. (2007): GLAS/ICESat 1 km laser altimetri digital elevation model of Greenland. Boulder, Colorado USA: National Snow and Ice Data Centre. Digital media).

This dataset contains Fire Radiative Power (FRP) data over Africa from Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager (SEVIRI) data. Fires are detected by applying Roberts and Wooster's (2008) detection algorithm to SEVIRI data. FRP is estimated using the Middle InfraRed (MIR) radiance method (Wooster et al., 2003). The dataset was produced by Gareth Roberts and Martin Wooster (National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO), Kings College London).

TOPography EXperiment (TOPEX) for ocean circulation (otherwise known as Poseidon) was launched on August 10, 1992 and was a joint satellite mission between NASA, the U.S. space agency, and CNES, the French space agency, to map ocean surface topography. The first major oceanographic research vessel to sail into space, TOPEX/Poseidon helped revolutionise oceanography by proving the value of satellite ocean observations. This dataset contains monthly means on a 1x1 latitude/longitude grid for 12 years (1993-2004). The data contains the following parameters: wind speed, squared wind speed, cubed wind speed, wind speed * significant wave height, significant wave height, 1/sigma0(Ku) and gas transfer velocity. TOPEX/Poseidon was a joint mission from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the U.S. space agency and the French space agency. The dataset was produced by Fangohr, S. and D.K. Woolf of SOCS, as part of the NERC programme's Centre for observation of Air-Sea Interactions and FluXes (CASIX) and National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO).

This dataset collection contains a 10 year monthly climatology and monthly composites of the fractional contributions of three phytoplankton size classes (micro-, nano- and picoplankton) over the globe for the period Sep 1997-2007, as produced by the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) using SeaWIFs data. Accompanying maps are also available. This dataset contributes to fulfilling the first objective of the National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) Theme 2 programme (Monitoring, Diagnosis and Prediction of the Global Carbon-Cycle), Quantification of ocean biogeochemistry and carbon fluxes sub-theme 6 (ST6): Quantify the global oceanic organic C cycle using OC data, partitioned into phytoplankton (pigments, biomass, size structure & PFTs), particulate organic C, coloured dissolved organic matter (CDOM), dissolved and particulate inorganic components. Understanding the interaction between phytoplankton and the in-water light field is crucial to model ocean primary production and to improve our comprehension of the role of biological processes in the ocean–carbon cycle. The absorption coefficient of phytoplankton is a fundamental quantity in marine primary production models because: - it alters the transmission of light underwater; - it modifies the photosynthetic response of phytoplankton to available light; - it can be used as a direct indicator of phytoplankton abundance and phytoplankton size; - it can be used as an indicator of environmental variability It is well known that the phytoplankton absorption coefficient is a function of the dominant phytoplankton pigment, chlorophyll-a, and that this relationship is directly linked to changes in both pigment composition and size structure.

The University of Leicester GOSAT Proxy XCH4 v9.0 data set contains column-averaged dry-air mole fraction of methane (XCH4) generated from the Greenhouse Gas Observing Satellite (GOSAT) Level 1B data using the University of Leicester Full-Physics retrieval scheme (UoL-FP) using the Proxy retrieval approach. This data is an NCEO funded update/extension to the European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative (CCI) CH4_GOS_OCPR V7.0. and the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) CH_4 v7.2 data sets. It's a full reprocessing, based on different underlying L1B radiance data with additional changes. The latest version of the GOSAT Level 1B files (version 210.210) was acquired directly from the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) GOSAT Data Archive Service (GDAS) Data Server and are processed with the Leicester Retrieval Preparation Toolset to extract the measured radiances along with all required sounding-specific ancillary information such as the measurement time, location and geometry. These measured radiances have the recommended radiometric calibration and degradation corrections applied as per Yoshida et al., 2013 with an estimate of the spectral noise derived from the standard deviation of the out-of-band signal. The spectral data were then inputted into the UoL-FP retrieval algorithm where the Proxy retrieval approach is used to obtain the column-averaged dry-air mole fraction of methane (XCH4). Post-filtering and bias correction against the Total Carbon Column Observing Network is then performed. See process information and documentation for further details.

Theme 5 (Cryosphere and Polar Oceans) of the National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) is aimed at resolving uncertainties in future climate and sea-level arising from behaviour of the cryosphere. This dataset holds timeseries of Greenland glacier velocity fluctuations and Greenland glacier calving front fluctuations as maps and backscatter intensity images for the period March-July 2011. Timeseries of Antarctica glacier velocity and calving front fluctuations are expected later this year. The velocity fields and backscatter data were transformed to map coordinates using the GLAS/ICESat 1 km Laser Altimetry Digital Elevation Model of Greenland which is provided at Polar Stereographic grids (DiMarzio, J., Brenner, A., Schutz, R., Schuman, A. & Zwally, H.J. (2007)).