Cryosphere Data Access and Tools

NASA data range from measuring the current and historical extent of snow and ice to tracking its formation and melting. Our datasets and tools help researchers translate these interconnected data points into actionable knowledge.

Dataset	Geographic Region	Temporal Extent	Data Format	Potential Application Areas	Related Subtopics
ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 Level 1 ScanSAR Product	Global	2014-08-01 to Present		Sea ice coverage and movement tracking	sea ice
ARIA Sentinel-1 Geocoded Unwrapped Interferograms	Global	2014-06-15 to Present		Glacier flow velocity estimation	glaciers, ice sheets
ATLAS/ICESat-2 L2A Global Geolocated Photon Data V006	Global	2018-10-13 to Present	HDF5	Sea ice freeboard determination Ice sheet mass balance studies	glaciers, ice sheets, sea ice
ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3A Land Ice Height V006	Global	2018-10-14 to Present	HDF5	Ice sheet mass balance assessment Glacier thinning rate monitoring Ice sheet contribution to sea level rise Ice flow dynamics research Ice shelf stability monitoring Climate model validation for ice processes Cryosphere change detection Water resource planning in glaciated regions	glaciers, ice sheets
ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3A Sea Ice Height V006	Global	2018-10-14 to Present	HDF5	Sea ice thickness estimation Ice volume calculation for mass balance Arctic shipping route safety assessment Climate model validation for sea ice Ice age and type discrimination	sea ice
GLIMS Glacier Database, Version 1	Global	1850-01-01 to Present	WMS WFS GML ASCII Shapefile KML	Global glacier inventory and monitoring Water resource planning in glaciated regions Glacier hazard identification Long-term glacier change detection	glaciers, ice sheets
MODIS/Terra Snow Cover Daily L3 Global 500m SIN Grid V061	Global	2000-02-24 to Present	HDF-EOS2	Snow extent mapping and monitoring Climate model validation for snow cover Flood risk prediction from snowmelt Cold region transportation planning Albedo feedback studies in climate research	snow ice
MODIS/Terra Surface Reflectance Daily L2G Global 250m SIN Grid V061	Global	2000-02-24 to Present	HDF-EOS2	Snow cover mapping	snow ice
Near-Real-Time DMSP SSMIS Daily Polar Gridded Sea Ice Concentrations, Version 2	Arctic, Antarctica, Polar, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere	2021-11-01 to Present	NetCDF-4 PNG	Sea ice edge position tracking Rapid response to changing ice conditions	sea ice
OPERA Surface Displacement from Sentinel-1 validated product (Version 1)	Global	2016-07-01 to Present	NetCDF-4 XML PNG Zarr	Ice sheet and glacier movement tracking	glaciers, ice sheets
RSS SSMIS OCEAN PRODUCT GRIDS 3-DAY AVERAGE FROM DMSP F17 NETCDF V7	Global	2006-12-12 to Present	NetCDF-4	Sea ice edge mapping in polar regions	sea ice
Sea Ice Concentrations from Nimbus-7 SMMR and DMSP SSM/I-SSMIS Passive Microwave Data, Version 2	Polar	1978-10-26 to Present	NetCDF-4 PNG	Long-term sea ice trend analysis Arctic amplification studies Polar ecosystem management Polar climate feedback mechanism research Multi-decadal ice variability studies	sea ice
SENTINEL-1B_DUAL_POL_GRD_HIGH_RES	Global	2016-04-25 to 2021-12-24		Snow cover extent monitoring	frozen ground, glaciers, ice sheets, sea ice, snow ice
SENTINEL-1B_SLC	Global	2016-04-25 to 2021-12-24		Coherence analysis for subtle change detection Polarimetric target characterization Glacier velocity measurement and ice monitoring	frozen ground, glaciers, ice sheets, sea ice, snow ice
VIIRS/JPSS1 Snow Cover Daily L3 Global 375m SIN Grid, Version 2	Global	2018-01-05 to Present	HDF-EOS5	High-resolution snow extent monitoring Snowmelt timing detection	snow ice
VIIRS/NPP Snow Cover Daily L3 Global 375m SIN Grid, Version 2	Global	2012-01-19 to Present	HDF-EOS5	Daily snow cover extent mapping Snow accumulation and ablation monitoring Water supply forecasting in snowmelt-dependent regions Winter storm impact assessment	snow ice
VIIRS/NPP Imagery Resolution 6-Min L1B Swath 375 m	Global	2012-01-19 to Present	NetCDF	Ice edge and sea ice monitoring	sea ice

Cryosphere Datasets

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Dataset Sort descending	Version	Platform	Instrument	Temporal Extent	Spatial Extent	Spatial Resolution	Data Format
NRT AMSR2 DAILY L3 25 KM TB AND SEA ICE CONCENTRATION POLAR GRIDS V1	0	GCOM-W1	AMSR2			25 km x 25 km	HDF-EOS-5
NRT AMSR2 DAILY L3 25 KM TB AND SEA ICE CONCENTRATION POLAR GRIDS V2	2	GCOM-W1	AMSR2			25 km x 25 km	HDF-EOS-5
NRT AMSR2 DAILY L3 6.25 KM 89 GHZ BRIGHTNESS TEMPERATURE (TB) POLAR GRIDS V0	0	GCOM-W1	AMSR2			6.25 km x 6.25 km	HDF-EOS-5
NRT AMSR2 DAILY L3 6.25 KM 89 GHZ BRIGHTNESS TEMPERATURE (TB) POLAR GRIDS V1	0	GCOM-W1	AMSR2			6.25 km x 6.25 km	HDF-EOS-5
NRT AMSR2 DAILY L3 6.25 KM 89 GHZ BRIGHTNESS TEMPERATURE (TB) POLAR GRIDS V2	2	GCOM-W1	AMSR2			6.25 km x 6.25 km	HDF-EOS-5
NRT AMSR2 DAILY L3 GLOBAL SNOW WATER EQUIVALENT EASE-GRIDS V0	0	GCOM-W1	AMSR2			null	HDF-EOS5
NRT AMSR2 L2B GLOBAL SWATH GSFC PROFILING ALGORITHM 2010: SURFACE PRECIPITATION, WIND SPEED OVER OCEAN, WATER VAPOR OVER OCEAN AND CLOUD LIQUID WATER OVER OCEAN	0	GCOM-W1	AMSR2			N/A	HDF-EOS-5
NRT AMSR2 Unified Global Swath Surface Precipitation GSFC Profiling Algorithm V1	1	GCOM-W1	AMSR2			21 km	netCDF-4; HDF-EOS5
NRT AMSR2 Unified L3 Daily 12.5 km Brightness Temperature & Sea Ice Concentration V4	4	GCOM-W1	AMSR2	2020-06-29	N: 89 S: -89 E: 180 W: -180		HDF-EOS5
NRT AMSR2 Unified L3 Daily 25 km Brightness Temperature & Sea Ice Concentration Polar Grids V4	4	GCOM-W1	AMSR2	2020-06-29	N: 89 S: -89 E: 180 W: -180		HDF-EOS5
NRT AMSR2 Unified L3 Daily 6.25 km Polar Gridded 89 GHz Brightness Temperatures V4	4	GCOM-W1	AMSR2	2020-06-29	N: 89 S: -89 E: 180 W: -180		HDF-EOS5
NRT AMSR2 Unified L3 Global Daily 25 km EASE-Grid Snow Water Equivalent R01	1	GCOM-W1	AMSR2			null	HDF-EOS5
NRT AMSR2 Unified L3 Global Daily 25 km EASE-Grid Snow Water Equivalent V2	2	GCOM-W1	AMSR2	2021-04-15	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180		HDF-EOS5
NSCAT Gridded Level 3 Enhanced Resolution Sigma-0 from BYU	1	ADEOS-I	NSCAT	1996-09-15 to 1997-06-29	N: 89 S: -89 E: 180 W: -180	0.04 Decimal Degrees x 0.04 Decimal Degrees	RAW
NSCAT High-Resolution MGDR, Sigma-0 and Ocean Wind Vectors (Dunbar)	2	ADEOS-I	NSCAT	1996-09-15 to 1997-06-29	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	25000 Meters x 25000 Meters	RAW
NSCAT Level 1.7 SDR, Sigma-0 Cells	2	ADEOS-I	NSCAT	1996-09-15 to 1997-06-29	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	50000 Meters x 50000 Meters	HDF
OMG Glacial Elevations from GLISTIN-A Ver. 1	1	Airborne	GLISTIN-A	2015-07-25 to 2019-11-30	N: 83.6 S: 59.1 E: -6.9 W: -73.6	0 Decimal Degrees x 0 Decimal Degrees	NETCDF
OPERA Coregistered Single-Look Complex from Sentinel-1 Static Layers validated product (Version 1)	1	Sentinel-1A, Sentinel-1B	C-SAR	2014-04-03 to Present			HDF5, XML
OPERA Coregistered Single-Look Complex from Sentinel-1 validated product (Version 1)	1	Sentinel-1A, Sentinel-1B, Sentinel-1C	C-SAR	2016-07-01 to Present			HDF5, XML
OPERA Radiometric Terrain Corrected SAR Backscatter from Sentinel-1 Static Layers validated product (Version 1)	1	Sentinel-1A, Sentinel-1B	C-SAR	2014-04-03 to Present	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180		GeoTIFF, XML
OPERA Radiometric Terrain Corrected SAR Backscatter from Sentinel-1 validated product (Version 1)	1	Sentinel-1A, Sentinel-1B, Sentinel-1C	C-SAR	2016-04-14 to Present	N: 90 S: -60 E: 180 W: -180		HDF5, GeoTIFF, XML
Passive Microwave-derived Annual Snowoff Date Maps, 1988-2023	1.0	DMSP 5D-3/F16, DMSP 5D-3/F17, DMSP 5D-3/F18, DMSP	SSMIS, SSM/I	1988-01-01 to 2023-12-31	N: 90 S: 37.9787 E: 180 W: -180		multiple
Potential Areas of Gas Seepage Detected by SAR in Lakes near Fairbanks, Alaska	1	COMPUTERS, ALOS	Computer, PALSAR	2006-12-04 to 2011-03-17	N: 65.1787 S: 64.3313 E: -146.87 W: -148.287		multiple
Pre-ABoVE: Ground-penetrating Radar Measurements of ALT on the Alaska North Slope	1	FIELD INVESTIGATION	GPR, GPS, SOIL DEPTH PROBE	2014-08-10 to 2014-08-15	N: 69.15 S: 68.4 E: -148.7 W: -149.5		CSV
Pre-ABoVE: Remotely Sensed Active Layer Thickness, Barrow, Alaska, 2006-2011	1	ALOS	PALSAR	2006-01-01 to 2011-12-31	N: 71.35 S: 71.2 E: -156.39 W: -156.89		netCDF-3

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Cryosphere Data Access and Tools

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