Constraining CMIP6 sea ice simulations with ICESat-2

Petty, Alek; Cardinale, Christopher; Smith, Madison

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-6313-2025

Articles | Volume 18, issue 18

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-6313-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-6313-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 18, issue 18

Methods for assessment of models

|

25 Sep 2025

Methods for assessment of models |

| 25 Sep 2025

Constraining CMIP6 sea ice simulations with ICESat-2

Alek Petty, Christopher Cardinale, and Madison Smith

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-6313-2025-supplement

Data sets

intake/intake-esm: v2025.2.3 Anderson Banihirwe et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14816755

Global sea ice concentration climate data record 1978-2020, EUMETSAT Ocean Sea Ice Satell. Appl. Facil., OSI-450-a OSI SAF https://doi.org/10.15770/EUM_SAF_OSI_0013

Global sea ice concentration interim climate data record, EUMETSAT Ocean Sea Ice Satell. Appl. Facil., OSI-430-a OSI SAF https://doi.org/10.15770/EUM_SAF_OSI_0014

ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3B Daily and Monthly Gridded Sea Ice Freeboards, Version 4 A. Petty et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/ATLAS/ATL20.004

ICESat-2 L4 Monthly Gridded Sea Ice Thickness, Version 3 A. Petty et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/ZCSU8Y5U1BQW

Model code and software

cjcardinale/CMIP6-ICESat2-SeaIce-Petty-2025 Christopher Cardinale and Alek Aaron Petty https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15849468

Short summary

We use total freeboard data from NASA’s Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) across both hemispheres and estimates of winter Arctic sea ice thickness to evaluate climate model simulations of sea ice, providing constraints beyond the traditional sea ice area metric. ICESat-2 provides accurate freeboard data, but its short observational record requires careful consideration of natural variability.