News & Stories

Across the globe, snow and ice play a vital role in regulating Earth’s climate and providing freshwater resources to people, plants, and animals.

As Earth’s frozen regions change rapidly, NSIDC is committed to growing its research and open access data to better understand these changes. Read about NSIDC research and its contribution to science and policy making. Check out spotlights on how to use NSIDC data, tools, and resources. Learn about how we steward data and collaborate with scientists and organizations across the world to understand how the frozen parts of Earth affect the rest of the planet and impact society.

News and stories

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his plot shows the average sea level pressure in the Arctic in millibars for April 2024.
Analysis - Sea Ice Today

April sea ice loss in the Arctic proceeded at a near-average rate overall, with the majority of ice losses in the Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk. In the Antarctic, sea ice grew faster than average, roughly evenly around the entire continent.

melt off of Antarctic Peninsula
Analysis - Ice Sheets Today
In late February and early March, two record melt events for that time of year occurred on the Antarctic Peninsula. Overall, however, the 2023 to 2024 melt season was slightly below the 45-year average because of low melt regions outside of the Antarctic Peninsula. 
The top maps show sea ice age for the week of March 11 to March 17 for (a) 1984 and (b) 2024. The bottom graph is a timeseries of the percent of the sea ice extent within the Arctic Ocean domain (inset map) for the same time period from 1984 through 2024
Analysis - Sea Ice Today

Following the 2024 maximum sea ice extent on March 14, Arctic ice extent has declined slowly such that 2024 March average is the fifteenth lowest in the passive microwave satellite record.

Annual maintenance of weather instruments at Ailaktalik station
Spotlight
The Silalirijiit Project was an innovative effort to engage community members and stakeholders to better monitor and understand the weather of Baffin Island’s Clyde River region. It combined state-of-the-art weather-monitoring technology with local Inuit knowledge.
Colorado snowstorm hangs heavy on ponderosa pine branches
Analysis - Snow Today
March started out dry in the western United States, but made significant gains in winter storms toward the end of the month, finishing tenth in snow-covered area over the 24-year-satellite record. Snow-covered area reached a maximum on January 17, 2024, spot on with the average over the data record.
Windnagel digging a snow pit
Spotlight
Ann Windnagel is a project manager at NSIDC. Her contributions span data set development, interactive applications, and research related to glaciers, sea ice, and snow. In this Q&A, she describes the many hats she has worn over the years, her biggest challenges, and her biggest rewards.