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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Analysis - Sea Ice Today

The Siberian heat wave continued into June with a record high temperature in Verkhoyansk, just north of the Arctic Circle. The heat also affected the Laptev Sea, where ice extent dropped to a record low for this time of year.

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Feature Story
In September 2019, the research vessel Polarstern set off to drift with sea ice and study all aspects of the Arctic climate system for 13 months. NSIDC scientist Julienne Strove joined the international team of researchers on the coldest, darkest portion of the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC). This is how she prepared.
Snow-disappearance anomaly map
Analysis - Snow Today
Snow-covered area and snow cover days in the Western United States were below average in May 2020. The vast majority of snow monitoring sites in the Western United States no longer reported a snowpack by the end of the month.
Analysis - Sea Ice Today

The seasonal decline of Arctic sea ice extent proceeded at a near-average pace in May. Extent did not approach record lows but remained well below the 1981 to 2010 average.

Snow-percentage graphs for study sites
Analysis - Snow Today
Snow-covered area and snow cover days were near average in April 2020. Snow-covered area continued to decline in April 2020 but was bolstered by storms in California in early April and in Colorado in late April.