NSIDC
@nsidc
We are the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. We conduct innovative research and provide open data to understand how the frozen parts of Earth affect the rest of the planet and impact society.
A lead is a long, linear area of open water that ranges from a few meters to over a kilometer in width, and tens of kilometers long; they develop as ice diverges, or pulls apart. See other crysopheric terms in the NSIDC glossary: https://bit.ly/4waA8Eu
The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) data sets, available from NASA NSIDC DAAC, include brightness temperature, sea ice concentration & motion, precipitation, snow depth, snow water equivalent, soil moisture, and vegetation water content. https://nsidc.org/data/amsre
The NASA NSIDC DAAC has released a new version of the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS)/ICESat-2 L3B Gridded Sea Ice Freeboard Quick Look data set, with rolling 30-day gridded estimates of sea ice freeboard. https://bit.ly/4bUbiR0
The peak melt season for Arctic sea ice occurs in summer, with ice cover reaching its lowest point in September. July is historically the warmest month in the Arctic with the highest volume of ice loss. See current conditions with NSIDC's Chartic graph: https://bit.ly/4rWyQKH
The continuous satellite record of polar sea ice started in October 1978, but the NASA NSIDC Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) Nimbus Rescue Project extended the non-continuous data record back to 1964. https://nsidc.org/data/nimbus
Learn how to download and visualize NASA NSIDC Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) products through NASA Worldview. https://bit.ly/4bLsckO
This glacier inventory from NOAA@NSIDC of West Greenland includes 5,297 glaciers from 1948 to 1985, taken from 1:250,000 maps, Landsat imagery, and aerial photographs. Data records include latitude and longitude, min and max elevation, and surface area. https://bit.ly/3TCTzHu
The Larsen B Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula lost the size of Rhode Island in sea ice in the 2002. After, glaciers feeding the shelf flowed faster. When stable, ice shelves act as brakes. When lifted, glaciers accelerate & land ice melts into the sea. https://bit.ly/4vrVITL
The NASA NSIDC Distributed Active Archive Center data collection from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) includes snow cover and sea ice data products derived from NASA’s MODIS instruments aboard both the Terra and Aqua satellites. https://nsidc.org/data/modis
Want to simplify downloading Earthdata cloud data? Then earthaccess can help. https://bit.ly/4fAWlWq
The NASA NSIDC Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) Land, Vegetation, and Ice Sensor (LVIS) collection has data on surface topography of oceans, land, glaciers, ice sheets, and sea ice; and vegetation and structural heights. https://bit.ly/44LYdpj
High Mountain Asia 5 Arc-Minute Hydrological Flow Direction for the Headwaters of the Amu Darya and Indus River Basins, available from the NASA NSIDC Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC), has data readings spanning four countries. https://doi.org/10.5067/SE4AJ5NZBWT5
Whether it rains or snows, the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E)/AMSR2 Unified L2B Global Swath Surface Precipitation at the NASA NSIDC Distributed Active Archive Center reports instantaneous surface precipitation rates and types. https://bit.ly/4vSVA0F
Join Webinar on Updating the Researcher’s Toolkit: Policy Engagement for a Changing Funding Landscape on July 9, 2026, at 2 PM ET. Learn how to engage policymakers, communicate research impact, and navigate a changing funding environment. Register: https://bit.ly/4yiYaif...
Snow Today is a NASA-funded research project at NSIDC that examines where snow is present, where it has snowed recently, and how much water is in the snow, while also comparing between snow today, yesterday, last year, and over the last few decades. https://nsidc.org/snow-today
Remember Chasing Ice? The 2012 film about James Balog's photo project captured the subzero logistics of maintaining cameras in places like Greenland. Now over 1.5 million time-lapse images are at NSIDC, allowing free access to see global glacial retreat. https://bit.ly/4y2mx3g
NASA is decommissioning Moderate Resolution Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors and shifting to the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor. The NSIDC analysis site Snow Today is converting to VIIRS data this year. https://bit.ly/3T7t9xk
The Nunatsiavut Sea Ice Observer Program (NSIOP) collaborated with the Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic (ELOKA), a program at NSIDC, to create an observational database of sea ice conditions in coastal Labrador, Canada. https://bit.ly/4wf9rOz
Want to receive a monthly summary of the biggest NSIDC news at the beginning of each month? Sign up for our newsletter. https://bit.ly/3Q1Snvv
The Athabasca Glacier in Canada is one of the most accessible and visited glaciers in the world. As such, its retreat is well documented, rendering glacial change apparent. Explore this glacier and others with NSIDC's Glacier Photograph Collection: https://bit.ly/4e6aBpD
The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP)/Sentinel-1 L2 Radiometer/Radar 30-Second Scene 3 km Equal-Area Scalable Earth (EASE-Grid) Soil Moisture provides coverage from 60°N to 60°S from March 31, 2015 on. Data are available from the @NASA NSIDC DAAC. https://bit.ly/4oodPs0
One of NSIDC's oldest data sets is from the NOAA@NSIDC program: The Global Lake and River Ice Phenology Database contains freeze and breakup dates for 865 lakes and rivers around the world. The earliest record is for Lake Constance in Germany, from 874. https://nsidc.org/data/g01377/versions/1
SnowEx data sets at the @NASA NSIDC Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) include a wealth of snow pit measurements—but not just those. SnowEx data also include brightness temperatures, radar reflectivity, lidar, radar cross-sections. https://nsidc.org/data/snowex
Explore NSIDC's web services, interactive tutorials, and other tools to access and work with data from our three programs: NOAA@NSIDC, the NASA NSIDC DAAC, and the Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic (ELOKA): https://bit.ly/3RVay7k
The NOAA@NSIDC program leverages NSIDC-wide expertise in scientific analysis, data curation, quality assurance, and technical communication when archiving, developing, and publishing data products. Learn more about the program and its unique data sets: https://bit.ly/4tYwooP
Check out Greenland ice velocity maps, available from the @NASA NSIDC Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) as part of the Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) project. https://nsidc.org/grimp
The Ice Edge Positions in the Nordic Seas data product from NOAA@NSIDC contains ice edge coordinates from March to August, 1750-2002. Data are derived from sea ice products and observational ship logbooks, diaries, and recent satellite data: https://bit.ly/4ef59Q0
ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3B Gridded Antarctic and Arctic Land Ice Height Change, available from the @NASA NSIDC Distributed Active Archive Center, shows how land ice height has changed over time. https://doi.org/10.5067/ATLAS/ATL15.004
Grease ice makes the water resemble an oil slick, the small crystals of ice held closely together reflect and refract light similarly to how oil will on water. Photo by Nina Munteanu. Find more terms of Earth's frozen region in NSIDC's glossary: https://nsidc.org/learn/cryosphere-glossary
Name three differences between Arctic and Antarctic sea ice. Find the answers in NSIDC's learn pages and why scientists focus more on Arctic sea ice: https://bit.ly/4xg3YbH