New datasets have been released for the Cryo-TEMPO thematic products. Baseline-B products are now available from ESA’s CryoSat-2 Science Server, which introduce new features across all themes: land ice, sea ice, polar oceans, coastal oceans, and inland waters. The latest additions include enhanced SARIn processing and extended regional coverage.

Cryo-TEMPO delivers state-of-the-art CryoSat products to a broad range of users, particularly those new to CryoSat data. Thematic products allow quick and easy access to CryoSat’s unique, long-term satellite record of global ice and water spanning more than 12 years.

Developed by a consortium led by the UK Centre for Polar Observation & Modelling (CPOM), and the Lancaster University-UKCEH Centre of Excellence in Environmental Data Science (CEEDS), Cryo-TEMPO products are an invaluable resource for global cryosphere and hydrology research. They have already been successfully used to plan field campaigns in Antarctica and in intercomparisons with NASA’s ICESat-2 laser altimeter.

Project leader Mal McMillan says, “We are excited to be releasing our new products across all Cryo-TEMPO themes. Building upon our first release last year, these offer further improvements in product quality and coverage; for example, utilising new, state-of-the-art retrackers and extending our datasets to cover new coastal and inland water bodies. Ultimately, we hope that this will enable a growing community of scientists and service users to benefit from the unique record that CryoSat-2 offers.”

What’s new in Cryo-TEMPO Baseline-B?

The Cryo-TEMPO Quality Control and Validation (QSV) portal has been fully updated with Baseline B results, allowing users to easily browse and visualise the products.

Existing users should note a change in the naming structure on the CryoSat Product Dissemination Service (PDS) to the following:

The previous baseline A has been archived on the PDS at TEMPO_POCA_Baseline-A, with subfolders renamed according to the new naming convention.

Land ice

The Cryo-TEMPO Land Ice product provides quality controlled measurements of ice sheet surface elevation. Updates to Baseline B for Land Ice include: new global NetCDF attributes; a new SARIn retracker; improved SARIn across-track angle calculation; SARIn phase unwrapping and ambiguity detection; an additional glaciological drainage basin parameter; and an uncertainty parameter calculated using combined data from CryoSat and NASA’s ICESat-2.  Find out more on the Cryo-TEMPO website.

Sea ice

The Cryo-TEMPO Sea Ice product comprises Arctic radar freeboard and sea ice freeboard. Updates to Baseline B for Sea Ice include: additional parameters, including a new region_code parameter; updated tide corrections; dynamic atmospheric correction; updated mean sea surface. Find out more on the Cryo-TEMPO website.

Polar oceans

The Cryo-TEMPO Polar Oceans product provides a long-term record of sea level anomalies and dynamic ocean topography in the Arctic. Updates to Baseline B for Polar Oceans include: LRM mode data; a new SAMOSA+ physical retracker; a new region_code parameter; use of the ARCTIDE (v1.1) tidal model for tide correction where available; DAC atmospheric corrections; updated mean sea surface. Find out more on the Cryo-TEMPO website.

Coastal oceans

The Cryo-TEMPO Coastal Oceans product provides a long-term record of along-track sea level anomalies and absolute dynamic topography over the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Updates to Baseline B for Coastal Oceans include: data masking; extended area coverage to the whole Black Sea; updated and additional parameters including flag_valid and dist_coast parameters; new uncertainty estimates. Find out more on the Cryo-TEMPO website.

Inland waters

The Cryo-TEMPO Inland Waters product provides water surface height over selected rivers and lakes. Updates to Baseline B for Inland Waters include: new lakes in Sweden and the USA, and the Tiber river basin in Italy; SARIn measurements; additional quality flags. Find out more on the Cryo-TEMPO website.