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Description

This dataset provides daily-averaged ocean and sea-ice surface heat fluxes from the SASSIE ECCO Version 1 Release 1 (V1R1) ocean and sea-ice state estimate. ECCO (Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean) is a 4D ocean circulation model combining observations with a general circulation model (GCM) to estimate the complete time-evolving state of the global ocean. In this project, it was run over the Arctic polar region in support of the Salinity and Stratification at the Sea Ice Edge (SASSIE) field experiment - a NASA experiment focused on salinity anomalies in the upper ocean generated by melting sea ice. The SASSIE ECCO simulation was produced by downscaling the global ECCO state estimate from 1/3 to 1/12 degree grid cells, where the global solution provided initial and boundary conditions and atmospheric forcing. Model ocean and sea-ice state estimates are dynamically and kinematically-consistent reconstructions of the three-dimensional time-evolving ocean, sea-ice, and surface atmospheric states. The output fields for this dataset cover the period 2014-01-15T12:00:00 to 2021-02-07T12:00:00 and are consolidated onto a single curvilinear grid face focusing on the Arctic domain, using the 5 faces of the lat-lon-cap 1080 (llc1080) native grid from the original simulation. Daily files are available in netCDF-4.
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This dataset is one of 22 produced by SASSIE ECCO - the full list can be found in the user guide. To cite all 22 datasets with a single DOI, please cite the user guide (citation details and DOI can be found within the user guide).

Version Description

Version 1, Release 1

Product Summary

Platforms
MITgcm
Coordinate System
GEODETIC
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2014-01-15 to 2021-02-08
Temporal Resolution
1 Day
Data Partner
Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA (NASA/JPL/PODAAC)
Concept ID
C3874536221-POCLOUD
Data State
COMPLETE
Number of Files/Granules
2581
Processing Level
4
Science Keywords
Sensible Heat Flux ,
Latent Heat Flux ,
Longwave Radiation ,
Shortwave Radiation ,
Heat Flux

Citation

Citation is critically important for dataset documentation and discovery. This dataset is openly shared, without restriction, in accordance with the EOSDIS Data Use and Citation Guidance.

Copy Citation

Marie Zahn, M. W. (2026). SASSIE ECCO Ocean and Sea-Ice Surface Heat Fluxes - Daily Mean llc1080 Grid (Version 1 Release 1) [Data set]. NASA Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/SEL1D-HEA11 Date Accessed: 2026-01-28

Documents

Variables

Variables are a set of physical properties whose values determine the characteristics or behavior of something. For example, temperature and pressure are variables of the atmosphere. Parameters and variables can be used interchangeably. Variable level attributes provide individual information for each variable.

The Name in this table is the variable name. Fill value indicates missing or undefined data points in a variable. Valid range is the range of values the variable can store. Scale factor is used to increase or decrease the size of an object and can be used to correct for distortion. For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.

Name Description Units Data Type Fill Value Valid Range Scale Factor
EXFhl Air-sea latent heat flux per unit area of open water (not covered by sea-ice). Note: calculated from the bulk formula following Large and Yeager (2004) NCAR/TN-460+STR. W m-2 float 9.96921E+36 -201.4500579834 to 33.643257141113 1
EXFhs Air-sea sensible heat flux per unit area of open water (not covered by sea-ice). Note: calculated from the bulk formula following Large and Yeager (2004) NCAR/TN-460+STR. W m-2 float 9.96921E+36 -505.26809692383 to 38.113109588623 1
EXFlwdn Downward longwave radiative flux W m-2 float 9.96921E+36 101.59624481201 to 351.40420532227 1
EXFlwnet Net longwave radiative flux per unit area of open water (not covered by sea-ice). Note: net longwave radiation over open water calculated from downward longwave radiation (EXFlwdn) and upward longwave radiation from ocean and sea-ice thermal emission (Stefan-Boltzman law). W m-2 float 9.96921E+36 0 to 164.69087219238 1
EXFqnet Net air-sea heat flux (turbulent and radiative) per unit area of open water (not covered by sea-ice). Note: net upward heat flux over open water, calculated as EXFlwnet+EXFswnet-EXFlh-EXFhs. W m-2 float 9.96921E+36 -81.228462219238 to 762.63806152344 1
EXFswdn Downward shortwave radiative flux W m-2 float 9.96921E+36 0 to 72.553749084473 1
EXFswnet Net shortwave radiative flux per unit area of open water (not covered by sea-ice). Note: net shortwave radiation over open water calculated from downward shortwave flux (EXFswdn) and ocean surface albdeo. W m-2 float 9.96921E+36 -58.271789550781 0 1
i In the Arakawa C-grid system, tracer (e.g., THETA) and &#039;v&#039; variables (e.g., VVEL) have the same x coordinate on the model grid. N/A int N/A N/A 1
j In the Arakawa C-grid system, tracer (e.g., THETA) and &#039;u&#039; variables (e.g., UVEL) have the same y coordinate on the model grid. N/A int N/A N/A 1
oceQnet Net heat flux into the ocean surface from all processes: air-sea turbulent and radiative fluxes and turbulent and conductive fluxes between the ocean and sea-ice and snow. Note: oceQnet does not include the change in ocean heat content due to changing ocean ocean mass (oceFWflx). Mass fluxes from evaporation, precipitation, and runoff (EXFempmr) happen at the same temperature as the ocean surface temperature. Consequently, EmPmR does not change ocean surface temperature. Conversely, mass fluxes due to sea-ice thickening/thinning and snow melt in the model are assumed to happen at a fixed 0C. Consequently, mass fluxes due to phase changes between seawater and sea-ice and snow induce a heat flux when the ocean surface temperaure is not 0C. The variable TFLUX does include the change in ocean heat content due to changing ocean mass. W m-2 float 9.96921E+36 -2275.6752929688 to 1412.1373291016 1
oceQsw Net shortwave radiative flux across the ocean surface. Note: Shortwave radiation penetrates below the surface grid cell. W m-2 float 9.96921E+36 0 to 58.271789550781 1
SIatmQnt Atmospheric contribution to the net surface heat flux; positive values cool the ocean (decrease THETA). W m-2 float 9.96921E+36 -83.370399475098 to 780.66412353516 1
SIqnet Total surface heat flux (turbulent and radiative) applied to the ocean; positive values cool the ocean (decrease THETA). W m-2 float 9.96921E+36 -1412.1381835938 to 2275.6870117188 1
SIqneti Portion of the net surface heat flux (SIqnet) applied over the ice-covered fraction of the grid cell; positive values cool the ocean (decrease THETA). W m-2 float 9.96921E+36 -0.00023875513579696 to 9.3016519546509 1
SIqneto Portion of the net surface heat flux (SIqnet) applied over the open-ocean fraction of the grid cell; positive values cool the ocean (decrease THETA). W m-2 float 9.96921E+36 -83.370399475098 to 574.00714111328 1
SIqsw Shortwave radiative flux at the ocean surface; positive values cool the ocean (decrease THETA). W m-2 float 9.96921E+36 -58.271789550781 0 1
SItflux Rate of change of ocean heat content per unit area including effects of surface mass fluxes (precipitation, evaporation, sea ice); positive values warm the ocean (increase THETA). W m-2 float 9.96921E+36 -81.865859985352 to 781.08966064453 1
TFLUX The rate of change of ocean heat content due to heat fluxes across the liquid surface and the addition or removal of mass. . Note: the global area integral of TFLUX and geothermal flux (geothermalFlux.bin) matches the time-derivative of ocean heat content (J/s). Unlike oceQnet, TFLUX includes the contribution to the ocean heat content from changing ocean mass (e.g. from oceFWflx). W m-2 float 9.96921E+36 -2254.427734375 to 1379.5212402344 1
time midpoint time of averaging period hours since 1992-01-01T12:00:00 int N/A N/A 1
time_bnds Start and end times of averaging period. N/A int N/A N/A 1
WTHMASS Surface flux correction of potential temperature associated with a linear free-surface configuration; applied as a mass flux term at the ocean surface. degree_C m s-1 float 9.96921E+36 -4.1026571125258E-5 to 3.8994727219688E-5 1
XC nonuniform grid spacing degrees_east float N/A -179.9994354248 to 179.99996948242 1
XC_bnds Bounds array follows CF conventions. XC_bnds[i,j,0] = &#039;southwest&#039; corner (j-1, i-1), XC_bnds[i,j,1] = &#039;southeast&#039; corner (j-1, i+1), XC_bnds[i,j,2] = &#039;northeast&#039; corner (j+1, i+1), XC_bnds[i,j,3] = &#039;northwest&#039; corner (j+1, i-1). Note: &#039;southwest&#039;, &#039;southeast&#039;, northwest&#039;, and &#039;northeast&#039; do not correspond to geographic orientation but are used for convenience to describe the computational grid. See MITgcm documentation for details. N/A float N/A N/A 1
YC nonuniform grid spacing degrees_north float N/A 48.678619384766 to 89.978286743164 1
YC_bnds Bounds array follows CF conventions. YC_bnds[i,j,0] = &#039;southwest&#039; corner (j-1, i-1), YC_bnds[i,j,1] = &#039;southeast&#039; corner (j-1, i+1), YC_bnds[i,j,2] = &#039;northeast&#039; corner (j+1, i+1), YC_bnds[i,j,3] = &#039;northwest&#039; corner (j+1, i-1). Note: &#039;southwest&#039;, &#039;southeast&#039;, northwest&#039;, and &#039;northeast&#039; do not correspond to geographic orientation but are used for convenience to describe the computational grid. See MITgcm documentation for details. N/A float N/A N/A 1
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