The NSIDC Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) processes, archives, documents, and distributes data from NASA's past and current Earth Observing System (EOS) satellites and field measurement programs. The NSIDC DAAC focuses on the study of the cryosphere. Read more about the NSIDC DAAC »
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Data Sets
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AMSR
Visit Site »Daily Level-1A and Level-2A data from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR) instrument that was flown on the Advanced Earth Observation Satellite-II (ADEOS-II) satellite.
Spatial Coverage: global
Temporal Coverage: 28 January 2003 through 24 October 2003
Instrument: AMSR (passive microwave)
Platform: ADEOS-II (also known as Midori-II)
Parameters:
sensor counts, brightness temperature
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AMSR-E
Visit Site »Daily, weekly, and monthly Level-1A, Level-2A, Level-2B, and Level-3 data products from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer - Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) sensor on NASA's Aqua satellite.
Spatial Coverage: varies by data set
Temporal Coverage: 2002 to present
Instrument: AMSR-E (passive microwave)
Platform: Aqua
Parameters:
precipitation rate, sea surface temperature, sea ice concentration, snow water equivalent, soil moisture, surface wetness, wind speed, atmospheric cloud water, and water vapor
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AMSR-E Validation Data
Visit Site »A validation effort to address data quality through several comprehensive calibration and validation programs that characterize and document the accuracy and precision of AMSR-E observations and their derived products.
Spatial Coverage: varies by data set
Temporal Coverage: 2000 to 2005
Instrument: various in situ measurement instruments
Platform: various in situ ground platforms
Parameters:
cryopsheric, rainfall, soil moisture
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AVHRR
Visit Site »As part of the NOAA/NASA Polar Pathfinder program, the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) EASE-Grid products are designed to provide scientists with a time series of global-scale remote sensing data for the period prior to the Earth Observing System (EOS) satellite launches. .
Spatial Coverage: global
Temporal Coverage: 1981-2005
Instruments: AVHRR (visible-infrared)
Platforms: NOAA-7, NOAA-8, NOAA-9, NOAA-10, NOAA-11, NOAA-14, NOAA-16
Parameters:
albedo and surface temperature measurements
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CLPX
Visit Site »The Cold Land Processes Field Experiment (CLPX) focused on developing models and measurements necessary to extend our local understanding of water fluxes, storage, and transformations to regional and global scales. The experiment emphasized the development of a strong synergism between process-oriented understanding, land surface models, and microwave remote sensing by using a multi-sensor, multi-scale approach.
Spatial Coverage: Colorado, small regional study areas
Temporal Coverage: 2002 February - March & 2003 February - March
Instruments: various active & passive microwave sensors, optical sensors, and in situ measurement instruments
Platform: satellite, aircraft, ground-based microwave remote sensing, and in situ ground platforms
Parameters:
snow density, snow temperature, snow stratigraphy, snow grain size, snow water equivalent, snow wetness, and surface roughness.
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EASE-Grid
Visit Site »The Equal-Area Scalable Earth Grid (EASE-Grid) consists of a set of three equal-area projections: the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and global; and is intended to be a versatile tool for users of global-scale gridded data, specifically remotely sensed data. There is a versatile collection of data sets currently in EASE-Grid.
Spatial Coverage: Northern and Southern Hemispheres, and global
Temporal Coverage: 1933 to present
Instruments: SSM/I, SMMR, SSMIS, AMSR-E (passive microwave)
AVHRR, MODIS, TOVS (visible-infrared)
Platforms: aircraft, icebreakers; Terra, Aqua, Radarsat, ERS, Envisat, Russian Almaz, DMSP, GOES, and NIMBUS-7 satellites Parameters:
ice extent, ice temperature, sea ice concentration, snow cover, sea ice motion, ice velocity, ice types, total ice concentration, brightness temperature, snow water equivalent, albedo, visible radiance, viewing geometry, thermal properties, thermal infrared, skin temperature, land surface temperature, infrared radiance, cloud amount/frequency, ground ice, emissivity, cloud top temperature, cloud top pressure, air temperature, permafrost, concentration of first-year, multiyear, and new/young, and land fast ice
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Digital Elevation Models (DEMs)
Visit Site »Surface elevation maps of Greenland and Antarctica created from ice sheet elevation data. These maps contribute to the study of glaciers, ice sheets, ice streams, and ice shelves.
Spatial Coverage: Alaska, Antarctica, Greenland, & global
Temporal Coverage: varies by data set
Instrument: radar altimeters, visual observations, MODIS, GLAS, SAR, GPS
Platform: aircraft, ground stations, ground-based observations, maps, submarine, DEM; GEOSAT, SEASAT, ICESAT, ERS-1 satellites
Parameters:
contours, elevation, glacier elevation, ice sheet elevation, ice sheets, glacier elevation sheet, glacier topography, ice sheet topography, landforms, terrain elevation, topographical relief, radar imagery, radar reflectivity, radar backscatter, topographic effects, surface roughness, firn-snow grain size
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IceBridge
Visit Site »Data for products derived from NASA's Operation IceBridge aircraft missions, as well as tools and services extending the uses of IceBridge data products.
Spatial Coverage: Alaska, Antarctica, Greenland
Temporal Coverage: 2009 to present for IceBridge Mission -- earlier missions back to 1993 also available
Instruments: ATM, MCoRDS, Snow radar, Ku-Band radar, Accumulation radar, DMS, POS/AV, Gravi-meter, Magnetometer
Platform: Aircraft
Parameters:
ice surface topography, bedrock topography beneath the ice sheets, grounding line position, ice and snow thickness, and sea ice distribution and freeboard
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ICESat / GLAS
Visit Site »NSIDC archives and distributes 15 Level-1 and Level-2 data products from the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) instrument aboard the NASA Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation (ICESat) satellite, launched on 12 January 2003.
Spatial Coverage: global
Temporal Coverage: 2003 to 2009
Instruments: GLAS (lidar)
Platform: ICESat
Parameters:
polar ice sheet elevation, plus sea ice roughness and thickness, cloud and atmospheric properties, land topography, vegetation canopy heights, ocean surface topography, and surface reflectivity
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MEaSUREs
Visit Site »The NASA Making Earth Science Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) program aims to develop consistent global and continent scale data records to support individual scientists and groups in data product generation. In effect, MEaSURES projects function as additional processing facilities for NASA, and are subject to rigorous standards for data quality, validation, algorithm description, documentation, and delivery. NSIDC currently archives and distributes several data sets from the MEaSUREs program.
Spatial Coverage: Greenland, Antarctica, and global
Temporal Coverage: 2000 - 2010
Instruments: SAR, SSM/I
Platforms: RADARSAT-1, TSX, DMSP
Parameters:
ice velocity, freeze-thaw, snow extent
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MODIS
Visit Site »NSIDC archives and distributes Level-2 and Level-3 snow cover and sea ice data products from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor on NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) Aqua and Terra satellites.
Spatial Coverage: global
Temporal Coverage: 2000 to present
Instruments: MODIS (visible-infrared)
Platforms: Aqua and Terra
Parameters:
snow cover, fractional snow cover, snow cover daily tile, snow albedo daily tile, maximum snow extent, eight day snow cover, snow cover monthly climate modeling grid (CMG), snow spatial QA, sea ice extent, sea ice temperature, sea ice by reflectance, ice surface temperature
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PARCA
Visit Site »The Program for Arctic Regional Climate Assessment (PARCA) began in 1993 with the primary goal of measuring and understanding the mass balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Approximately 25 investigations used in situ measurements as well as satellite and aircraft remote sensing to study this issue. In many cases, these investigators have agreed to make their data available through their own Web sites; however, some investigators have asked NSIDC to host their data.
Spatial Coverage: Greenland
Temporal Coverage: 1993 to present
Instruments: various passive microwave, radar, lidar, and scatterometer sensors and in situ measurement instruments
Platforms: satellite, aircraft, and in situ ground platforms
Parameters:
snow, ice, atmospheric
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Polar Stereo
Visit Site »NSIDC's polar stereographic projection specifies a projection plane or grid tangent to the Earth's surface at 70 degrees northern and southern latitude. While this increases the distortion at the poles by six percent and decreases the distortion at the grid boundaries by the same amount, the latitude of 70 degrees was selected so that little or no distortion would occur in the marginal ice zone.
Spatial Coverage: both poles
Temporal Coverage: 1972 to present
Instruments: SSM/I, SMMR, SSMIS, AMSR-E (passive microwave)
Platforms: DMSP, Nimbus 5 & 7, Aqua
Parameters:
brightness temperature, sea ice concentration, snow depth, snow melt
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RAMP
Visit Site »RADARSAT-1 was developed by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and was launched on 4 November 1995. In 1997, a joint effort by NASA and the CSA culminated in the creation of the Antarctic Mapping Mission-1 mosaic, produced by the RADARSAT Antarctic Mapping Project (RAMP). For this mapping, RADARSAT was rotated in its orbit so that its SAR antenna looked south towards Antarctica. This allowed for the first high-resolution mapping of the entire continent of Antarctica.
Spatial Coverage: Antarctica
Temporal Coverage: 30-day period from 9 September - 22 October 1997
Instruments: SAR
Platforms: RADARSAT-1
Parameters:
ice sheet morphology, rock outcrops, research infrastructure, coastline, other features
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Scatterometry Data
Visit Site »The NASA-funded Scatterometer Climate Record Pathfinder (SCP) has generated a comprehensive suite of processed scatterometer imagery to support climate studies. NSIDC is collaborating with Brigham Young University (BYU) and the Physical Oceanography DAAC (PO.DAAC) to develop integrated active/passive microwave sensor products.
Spatial Coverage: global
Temporal Coverage: 1978 to present
Instruments: various active microwave scatterometer and radiometer sensors
Platform: QuikSCAT, NSCAT, ERS, AQUARIUS, METOP-A, and DMSP-F08 satellites
Parameters:
ocean winds, sea ice extent, radar backscatter, SIGMA naught, sea ice motion, melt onset/freeze over sea ice, sea ice type, and Greenland accumulation and melt
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Sea Ice Products
Visit Site »NSIDC offers a wide variety of sea ice products derived from passive microwave and visible/infrared sensors, and other sources. This Web site offers one place to find all the sea ice data available from NSIDC.
Spatial Coverage: varies by data set
Temporal Coverage: 1966 to present
Instruments: AMSR-E, AMSU-A, AMSU-B, SSM/I, SSMIS, SSMR (passive microwave)
SAR, ASAR, PALSAR (radar)
MODIS, GOES I-M Imager, AVHRR, SEVIRI (visible-infrared)
Platform: aircraft, ALOS, DMSP, ENVISAT, ERS-2, MSG, NOAA POES, RADARSAT-2, Aqua, Terra, Nimbus-7, and Geostationary Satellites
Parameters:
melt pond area, melt pond size statistics, snow cover, ice cover, sea ice extent, sea ice edge/boundary
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TOVS
Visit Site »NSIDC archives and distributes daily and monthly 100 km resolution data files in Hierarchical Data Format (HDF) from the Television Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS) Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS) instrument.
Spatial Coverage: Northern and Southern Hemisphere
Temporal Coverage: 1979 January through 2005 December
Instruments: TOVS (visible_ infrared)
Platform: TIROS
Parameters:
air temperature, cloud amount/frequency, effective cloud fraction, cloud top pressure, cloud top temperature, emissivity, precipitate water, skin temperature, surface air temperature, wind stress-ceostrophic drag coefficient
