Average yearly sea ice coverage for the PAL LTER region West of the Antarctic Peninsula derived from passive microwave satellite, 1979 - 2022.

Annual sea ice coverage derived from monthly sea ice coverages originally derived from passive microwave satellite measurements. Ice extent is defined as the area bounded by the 15% ice concentration contour which is determined by summing up all the pixel areas (nominally 25km by 25km) which have concentrations greater than 15%. This area inside the ice-edge is not necessarily covered by 100%.