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.
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Analysis - Sea Ice Today
On September 11, Arctic sea ice likely reached its annual minimum extent of 4.28 million square kilometers (1.65 million square miles). The 2024 minimum is the seventh lowest in the nearly 46-year satellite record. The last 18 years, from 2007 to 2024, are the lowest 18 sea ice extents in the satellite record.
Spotlight
In May 2024, our planet experienced one of the strongest solar storms in decades. The most visible (and fun) consequence of the solar storm was a proliferation of auroras. But solar storms pose risks to satellites, including NASA’s Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) which saw its normal operations interrupted.
Analysis - Sea Ice Today
With the waning of sunlight, the pace of sea ice loss in the Arctic is slowing, and the seasonal minimum is expected in mid-September. While a new record low is highly unlikely, extent at the beginning of September is below many recent years. Antarctic ice extent is approaching its seasonal maximum and is near last year's record low.
Spotlight
The NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC) manages a range of MODIS data, making a suite of snow cover and sea ice data products freely accessible to the public. These data can be used to investigate how snow and ice cover have changed over time, to study Earth’s energy balance, and to feed global and polar climate models. Recently, the NSIDC DAAC published a new MODIS data set, MODIS/Terra Global Annual 0.01Deg CMG Snow Cover Climatology, Version 1. This data set focuses on global snow cover climatology from 2001 to 2023 using data from the Terra satellite and presents information using global maps.
Analysis - Sea Ice Today
The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) has launched an upgraded and streamlined Sea Ice Today website. The new site replaces the Arctic Sea Ice News & Analysis (ASINA) website but continues the NASA-funded work on near-real-time assessments, daily data images, and monthly analyses on sea ice conditions that began in 2007.
Analysis - Sea Ice Today
Arctic sea ice continued the fast retreat that was observed in July through August 10, followed by a brief slowdown, only to pick up pace again. During the first half of August, the ice primarily retreated in the northern Beaufort Sea and in the East Siberian Sea.