year mo    data_type region extent   area
1978 12      Goddard      N  14.12  10.85
1979 12      Goddard      N  13.54  10.55
1980 12      Goddard      N  13.72  10.71
1981 12      Goddard      N  13.74  10.47
1982 12      Goddard      N  13.83  10.81
1983 12      Goddard      N  13.44  10.56
1984 12      Goddard      N  13.18  10.19
1985 12      Goddard      N  13.19  10.15
1986 12      Goddard      N  13.40  10.46
1987 12      missing       N  -9999  -9999
1988 12      Goddard      N  13.78  11.94
1989 12      Goddard      N  13.47  11.53
1990 12      Goddard      N  13.27  11.40
1991 12      Goddard      N  13.17  11.19
1992 12      Goddard      N  13.45  11.66
1993 12      Goddard      N  13.52  11.41
1994 12      Goddard      N  13.53  11.43
1995 12      Goddard      N  12.98  11.02
1996 12      Goddard      N  13.14  10.96
1997 12      Goddard      N  13.29  11.19
1998 12      Goddard      N  13.26  10.85
1999 12      Goddard      N  12.88  10.93
2000 12      Goddard      N  12.81  10.90
2001 12      Goddard      N  12.84  10.49
2002 12      Goddard      N  12.82  10.58
2003 12      Goddard      N  12.82  10.74
2004 12      Goddard      N  12.72  10.91
2005 12      Goddard      N  12.47  10.51
2006 12      Goddard      N  12.27  10.10
2007 12      Goddard      N  12.39  10.11
2008 12       PRELIM      N  12.53  10.60
2009 12      NRTSI-G      N  12.48  10.17


Important Notes: 1) The "extent" column includes the area near the pole not
imaged by the sensor. It is assumed to be entirely ice covered with at	least
15% concentration. However, the "area" column excludes the area not  imaged by
the sensor. This area is 1.19 million square kilometers for SMMR  (from the
beginning of the series through June 1987) and 0.31 million  square kilometers
for SSM/I (from July 1987 to present). Therefore, there  is a discontinuity in
the "area" data values in this file at the June/July  1987 boundary. 2) When
insufficient satellite data is available to process the area and extent values,
the data is flagged as -9999. For more information see Processing Steps,
Monthly Mean Ice Concentration in the documentation -
http://nsidc.org/data/docs/noaa/g02135_seaice_index/index.html#processingstep.