CIMSS-NOAA Weekly Report [ Archive ]

CIMSS-NOAA WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING JULY 18, 2025

DATA, INFORMATION, AND USE-INSPIRED SCIENCE:

Climatology and Trends of Arctic Sea Ice Deformation (1979–2023): Sea ice dynamic processes, including ice motion and deformation, are critical for understanding sea ice physics, air–sea interactions, and for supporting model validation and operational forecasting to aid navigation. To investigate long-term changes in Arctic sea ice deformation, the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies analyzed 45 years of monthly means and trends for key deformation parameters (divergence, convergence, shear, stretch, vorticity, maximum shear, and total deformation rate), using the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) 25 km daily sea ice motion product. The figure illustrates the monthly mean and linear trend of total sea ice deformation rate in January and July over the period 1979–2023. Results indicate clear seasonal and spatial variability in sea ice deformation. Seasonally, deformation rates are generally higher during winter compared to summer. Spatially, deformation is more pronounced in coastal regions than in the central Arctic Ocean. The trend maps reveal a widespread increase in sea ice deformation across most Arctic regions over the past four decades, suggesting a long-term intensification of ice dynamics. Ongoing case studies aim to further explore the mechanisms and drivers behind these climatological changes. The sea ice dynamics products and a blended ice motion product based on AMSR2, VIIRS, and SAR data are currently being developed and integrated into the NESDIS Common Cloud Framework (NCCF). The blended ice motion product will be used to derive deformation when fully implemented in the cloud. (Tian Tian, CIMSS; Yinghui Liu, NOAA; Jeff Key, NOAA; Xuanji Wang, CIMSS)

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Figure: Monthly mean (top) and linear trend (bottom) of Arctic sea ice total deformation rate in January (left) and July (right) during the period 1979–2023, derived from the NSIDC 25 km daily ice motion product.

New Format for CLAVR-x Config File: The CLAVR-x configuration file has long been a nonstandard and poorly documented text file which made it hard to process data, add features, and sometimes caused mistakes. After a great deal of discussion at the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies, it has been replaced with a standard TOML format file. Currently this is being tested and should be included in the next release of CLAVR-x. (https://gitlab.ssec.wisc.edu/clavrx/clavrx-dev) (Coda Phillips, CIMSS) 

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CIMSS Satellite Blog Updates: The Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) Satellite Blog (https://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/satellite-blog/) was updated with the following post: "Cram Fire in Oregon" (Jul. 14). (S. Bachmeier, CIMSS, 608-263-3958) 

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Figure: GOES-18 GeoColor RGB image with an overlay of Next Generation Fire System (NGFS) Fire Detection polygons at 0200 UTC on 14 July 2025, showing the thermal signature and widespread dense smoke associated with the Cram Fire in central Oregon.

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