Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer - Earth Observing System (AMSR-E)

These data are from the AMSR-E sensor on NASA's Aqua satellite. Daily, weekly, and monthly Level-1A, Level-2, and Level-3 data are provided.

Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer - Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) Validation

These validation data characterize and document the accuracy and precision of AMSR-E observations.

Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR)

These data are from the AVHRR sensor on the NOAA satellite series. AVHRR data provide a global, long-term, consistent time series with high spectral and spatial resolution suitable for albedo and surface temperature measurements.

Aquarius

These data are from the Aquarius microwave radiometer sensor on the Satélite de Aplicaciones Científicas (SAC-D) platform. Aquarius data provide swath-based Level-2 products and daily, weekly, monthly, seasonal, and annual Level-3 products.

Cold Land Processes Field Experiment (CLPX)

These data are from nested study areas in Colorado and Wyoming, USA. NASA's CLPX is a multi-sensor, multi-scale field program designed to extend the current local-scale understanding of water fluxes, storage, and transformations to regional and global scales.

Digital Elevation Models (DEMs)

These DEM and other elevation data are mostly for Greenland and Antarctica polar ice sheets.

Easy-to-use Data Products

This Web page groups together selected NSIDC data sets that require little or no processing or programming to use. These may be of particular interest to teachers, students, press, the general public, or non-cryospheric researchers.

Environmental Working Group (EWG) Arctic Atlases

These three atlases on CD-ROM contain information from both Russian and Western perspectives on the Arctic climate system, including a host of atmospheric, oceanographic, and cryospheric data, maps, histories, and climate and weather facts.

Equal-Area Scalable Earth Grid (EASE-Grid) Products

These data are gridded to the Equal-Area Scalable Earth Grid (EASE-Grid), which consists of a set of three equal-area projections: Northern and Southern hemispheres (Lambert's equal-area, azimuthal), and global (cylindrical, equal-area).

Operation IceBridge Mission

This mission collects airborne remote sensing measurements to bridge the gap between NASA's ICESat mission and the upcoming ICESat-2 mission. Observations and measurements include coastal Greenland, coastal Antarctica, the Antarctic Peninsula, interior Antarctica, the southeast Alaskan glaciers, and Antarctic and Arctic sea ice.

Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation (ICESat)/Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS)

These data are from the GLAS instrument on the ICESat satellite. The main objective of the ICESat mission is to measure ice sheet elevations and changes in elevation through time.

International Polar Year (IPY)

These data and information support IPY, which is cosponsored by the International Council of Science and the World Meteorological Organization.

Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs)

NSIDC currently archives and distributes several data sets from the NASA Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs). The program aims to develop consistent global and continent scale data records related to earth science, or Earth System Data Records (ESDRs).

Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)

These data are from the MODIS sensor on NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) Aqua and Terra satellites. MODIS provides data of the polar regions at spatial resolutions of 250 m, 500 m, and 1,000 m.

Moored Upward Looking Sonar (ULS)

These data are archived in support of the World Climate Research Programme's Arctic Climate System Study/Climate and Cryosphere (ACSYS/CliC) project. ULS (sometimes called ice profiling sonar, or IPS) data measure sea ice draft.

Program for Arctic Regional Climate Assessment (PARCA)

These investigator-supplied data support PARCA's primary goal of measuring and understanding the mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet.

Polar Stereographic Data

This Web site lists and describes NSIDC's data holdings in a polar stereographic projection.

Radarsat Antarctic Mapping Project (RAMP)

These data provide high-resolution mapping of the entire continent of Antarctica. RAMP is a joint effort of NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

Scatterometer Data

These Scatterometer Climate Record Pathfinder (SCP) data form a NASA-funded comprehensive suite of processed scatterometer imagery to support climate studies over the polar and terrestrial regions.

Sea Ice Products

This Web site groups together many of NSIDC's sea ice products (derived from passive microwave sensors and other sources) for comparison, and provides links to tools and related information.

NSIDC currently distributes validation campaign data for the SMAP mission. After the SMAP instrument is launched in November 2014, NSIDC will distribute Level 1-4 SMAP science data. The primary science objective of SMAP is to create global, high-resolution mapping of soil moisture and its freeze/thaw state with unprecedented accuracy, resolution, and coverage.

West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Cores

These data are for deep ice cores from West Antarctica. WAISCORES is part of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Office of Polar Programs' (OPP) initiative, which is aimed at understanding the influence of the West Antarctic ice sheet on climate and sea level change.