Data Announcements

Older versions of multiple ATLAS/ICESat-2 data sets will be retired on 13 June 2022. After this date, access to the data will no longer be available, but the data set documentation will remain available for future reference at the following locations:

The Application for Extracting and Exploring Analysis Ready Samples (AppEEARS) now includes the newest versions of select Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) data sets from the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC). AppEEARS offers a simple and efficient way to subset SMAP data sets using spatial, temporal, and layer parameters for both point and area samples.

The CryoSat-2 Level-4 Sea Ice Elevation, Freeboard, and Thickness, Version 1 data set, accessible through the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC), has been updated to include data through March 2022. Data will be updated on a regular basis through May with a temporal lag of approximately 1.5 months between the most recent file and the present date.

The Images of Antarctic Ice Shelves data set (NSIDC-0102), accessible through the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC), has been updated to Version 2. This data set contains images of ice shelves considered the most susceptible to rapid change due to climatic warming and those that occasionally calve major icebergs. This monitoring effort began using AVHRR 1 Km images and later included MODIS images from both Terra and Aqua.

NOAA@NSIDC would like to make users aware that the ice-off dates for certain years between 2006-2019 for 20 Maine Lakes in this database have been corrected. The source of these dates for 2007-2008 onwards for 19 of these lakes are the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (DACF).

NOAA@NSIDC would like to make users aware of a change to the processing frequency for the U.S. National Ice Center Arctic and Antarctic Sea Ice Concentration and Climatologies in Gridded Format data set. The USNIC has changed to creating their Arctic and Antarctic Sea Ice Charts from weekly to every other week. The Arctic and Antarctic charts will be processed on alternating weeks. For example, the Arctic charts were processed for the week of 18 April 2022, and the Antarctic will be processed the following week, and so on alternating each week.

The ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3B Monthly Gridded Dynamic Ocean Topography (ATL19), Version 2 data set, available at the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC), has been updated to Version 2. This data set contains monthly gridded dynamic ocean topography (DOT), derived from the along-track ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3A Ocean Surface Height product (ATL12, Version 5). Both single beam and all-beam gridded averages are available in this data set.

The Western United States UCLA Daily Snow Reanalysis, Version 1 data set is now available at the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC). This data set provides snow reanalysis over the Western United States derived by assimilating satellite retrieved fractional snow-covered area (fSCA) observations from the Landsat satellite platforms between Water Year (WY) 1985 and 2021. The data set contains daily estimates of posterior snow water equivalent (SWE), fSCA, and snow depth (SD).

The ICESat-2 L4 Along-Track Sea Ice Thickness (IS2SITDAT4), Version 1 data set is now available at the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC). This data set reports daily, along-track winter sea ice thickness across the Arctic Ocean. Sea ice thickness is estimated using ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3A Sea Ice Freeboard (ATL10), Version 4 data and NASA Eulerian Snow On Sea Ice Model (NESOSIM) snow loading.

The latest version of AMSR-E/Aqua L2B Global Swath Surface Precipitation GSFC Profiling Algorithm, Version 4 data set, accessible through the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC), was released in the last year and data reprocessing is now complete. The full temporal coverage, 1 June 2002 to 4 October 2011 is available.

On 4 April, 2022, at approximately 14:12 UTC, the ICESat-2 satellite experienced an anomaly and entered into Safe Mode. No science data were recorded while the satellite was in Safe Mode.  ICESat-2 resumed collection of science data on 16 April 2022. All data sets will exhibit a gap in coverage within the temporal range 4 April 2022 to 16 April 2022. The expedited latency “quick look” data sets, which are part of the Land, Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EOS (LANCE) program, are once again available.

The MEaSUREs Polar EASE-Grid 2.0 Daily 6 km Land Freeze/Thaw Status from AMSR-E and AMSR2, Version 2 data set, accessible through the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC), has been updated to Version 2. In this version, the data set title changed from “MEaSUREs Northern Hemisphere Polar EASE-Grid 2.0 Daily 6 km Land Freeze/Thaw Status from AMSR-E and AMSR2” to reflect the addition of the Southern Hemisphere polar grid.

The SMAP/Sentinel-1 L2 Radiometer/Radar 30-Second Scene 3 km EASE-Grid Soil Moisture data set archived at the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC) has been updated. The data that were missing due to last years software issue at the SMAP Science Data System (SDS) have now been backfilled. Data from 27th October 2021 to 12 February 2022 are now available to download. Data set DOI: https://doi.org/10.5067/ASB0EQO2LYJV

On 18 April 2022, the IMS Daily Northern Hemisphere Snow and Ice Analysis files were renamed. Two updates were made to the file names:

The MEaSUREs Annual Antarctic Ice Velocity Maps, Version 1 data set, accessible through the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC), is now at Version 1.1. In this minor version update, the data set title changed from MEaSUREs Annual Antarctic Ice Velocity Maps 2005-2017 to MEaSUREs Annual Antarctic Ice Velocity Maps. This latest release also includes the addition of 2000/2001, 2017/2018, 2018/2019, and 2019/2020 annual velocity maps.

The SMAP Radiometer Twice-Daily rSIR-Enhanced EASE-Grid 2.0 Brightness Temperatures, Version 2 data set, accessible through the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC), has been updated to include new data from 1 May 2021 to 31 December 2021. This data set contains twice-daily, enhanced-resolution brightness temperature data derived from the SMAP radiometer. Data set DOI: https://doi.org/10.5067/YAMX52BXFL10

On April 4, 2022, at approximately 14:12 UTC, the ICESat-2 satellite experienced an anomaly and entered into Safe Mode. No science data are being recorded at the current time. All data sets will experience a gap in temporal coverage. The expedited latency “quick look” data sets, which are part of the Land, Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EOS (LANCE) program, are immediately impacted. NSIDC will provide an update once the problem has been resolved.

The Bootstrap Sea Ice Concentrations from Nimbus-7 SMMR and DMSP SSM/I-SSMIS, Version 3 data set, accessible through the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC), has been updated to include new data through 31 August 2021. This data set consists of daily and monthly sea ice concentrations derived from brightness temperature measurements. This data set is available for the north and south polar regions, with a temporal coverage extending back to 1 November 1978.

The Sea Ice Concentrations from Nimbus-7 SMMR and DMSP SSM/I-SSMIS Passive Microwave Data, Version 1 data set, accessible from the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC), has been updated to include new data through 31 December 2021. This data set is generated from brightness temperature data and is designed to provide a consistent time series of sea ice concentrations spanning the coverage of several passive microwave instruments.

NOAA@NSIDC is pleased to announce that the Glacier Covered Area for the State of Alaska, 1985-2020, Version 1 data set is now available at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). This data set captures changes in glacier covered area across the state of Alaska for the period of 1985-2020. The data set includes 18 biannual shapefiles each for overall glacier covered area, supraglacial debris area, and debris-free glacier covered area.