As expected, the spatial distribution of SIC is also improved upon data assimilation (Figure 4a, d). In March, the sea ice edge extends more in INTAROS-ctrl (black dashed line in Figure 4a), a feature corrected through the assimilation process (shading in Figure 4a). Improvements in the spatial distribution of SIC are even more pronounced in September (Figure 4d). In contrast to the total SIC (Figure 3a), both the TOPAZ4 and the PIOMAS reanalyses show an overall agreement with observations, considering the patterns and sea ice edge (15%). The PIOMAS reanalysis simulates more SIC in the winter season (Figure 4c) and less SIC in the summer season (Figure 4f). Overall, the three reanalyses reproduce the spatial pattern of the pan-Arctic SIC and the total SIC minimum in the years of 2007, 2012, and 2016.