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
ECCO Sea-Ice and Snow Horizontal Volume Fluxes - Monthly Mean llc90 Grid (Version 4 Release 4)	V4r4	MODELS, MITgcm		1992-01-01 to 2018-01-01	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	1 Decimal Degrees x 1 Decimal Degrees	netCDF-4
ECCO Sea-Ice Velocity - Daily Mean 0.5 Degree (Version 4 Release 4)	V4r4	MODELS, MITgcm		1992-01-01 to 2018-01-01	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	0.5 Decimal Degrees x 0.5 Decimal Degrees	netCDF-4
ECCO Sea-Ice Velocity - Daily Mean llc90 Grid (Version 4 Release 4)	V4r4	MODELS, MITgcm		1992-01-01 to 2018-01-01	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	1 Decimal Degrees x 1 Decimal Degrees	netCDF-4
ECCO Sea-Ice Velocity - Monthly Mean 0.5 Degree (Version 4 Release 4)	V4r4	MODELS, MITgcm		1992-01-01 to 2018-01-01	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	0.5 Decimal Degrees x 0.5 Decimal Degrees	netCDF-4
ECCO Sea-Ice Velocity - Monthly Mean llc90 Grid (Version 4 Release 4)	V4r4	MODELS, MITgcm		1992-01-01 to 2018-01-01	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	1 Decimal Degrees x 1 Decimal Degrees	netCDF-4
ECCO Sea-Ice Velocity - Snapshot llc90 Grid (Version 4 Release 4)	V4r4	MODELS, MITgcm		1992-01-01 to 2018-01-01	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	1 Decimal Degrees x 1 Decimal Degrees	netCDF-4
ERS-1 Gridded Level 3 Enhanced Resolution Sigma-0 from BYU	1	ERS-1	AMI	1992-01-01 to 1996-05-17	N: 88.2 S: -79.7 E: 180 W: -180	0.04 Decimal Degrees x 0.04 Decimal Degrees	RAW
ERS-1 Level 0 Product	1	ERS-1	SAR	1991-08-08 to 1997-09-29	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180
ERS-1 Level 1 Product	1	ERS-1	SAR	1991-08-08 to 1997-09-29	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180
ERS-2 Gridded Level 3 Enhanced Resolution Sigma-0 from BYU	1	ERS-2	AMI	1996-06-03 to 2001-12-30	N: 88.2 S: -79.7 E: 180 W: -180	0.04 Decimal Degrees x 0.04 Decimal Degrees	RAW
ERS-2 Level 0 Product	1	ERS-2	SAR	1995-10-01 to 2011-07-04	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180
ERS-2 Level 1 Product	1	ERS-2	SAR	1995-10-01 to 2011-07-04	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180
Field Data on Soils, Vegetation, and Fire History for Alaska Tundra Sites, 1972-2020	1	FIELD SURVEYS	VISUAL CENSUS TRANSECTS, THERMOMETERS	1972-08-01 to 2020-08-15	N: 71.334 S: 61.1397 E: -141.683 W: -166.41		CSV
Forest Aboveground Biomass for the Southwestern U.S. from MISR, 2000-2021	1	Terra	MISR	2000-05-15 to 2021-06-30	N: 46.2812 S: 28.599 E: -99.0185 W: -126.18		GeoTIFF
GeoCryoAI: Ensemble Learning and the Permafrost Carbon Feedback in Alaska, 1963-2022	1	COMPUTERS	Computer	1960-01-01 to 2022-12-31	N: 72 S: 54 E: -134.776 W: -170		TAR
GEWEX SRB Integrated Product (Rel-4) Ancillary 3-Hourly	1	SATELLITES	RADIOMETERS	1988-01-01 to 2009-12-31			NetCDF-4
GEWEX SRB Integrated Product (Rel-4) Ancillary 3-Hourly Land-only	1	SATELLITES	RADIOMETERS	1983-07-01 to 1987-12-31			NetCDF-4
GEWEX SRB Integrated Product (Rel-4) Ancillary 3-Hourly Ocean-only	1	SATELLITES	RADIOMETERS	2010-01-01 to 2017-06-30			NetCDF-4
Glacial and Fast Ice Distributions in Southeast Greenland Fjords V001	1	Aqua, LANDSAT-8, Sentinel-1A, Sentinel-1B, Sentinel-2A, Sentinel-2B, Terra	MODIS, OLI, C-SAR, Sentinel-2 MSI	2015-01-01 to 2019-12-31	N: 70.009956 S: 60.286876 E: -22.410516 W: -44.199176		Shapefile, CSV, GeoPackage
GLAS/ICESat L1B Global Elevation Data (HDF5) V034	034	ICESat	ALTIMETERS, CD, GLAS, GPS, GPS Receiver, LA, PC	2003-02-20 to 2009-10-11	N: 86 S: -86 E: 180 W: -180	60 Meters to 70 Meters x 60 Meters to 70 Meters	HDF5
GLAS/ICESat L1B Global Waveform-based Range Corrections Data (HDF5) V034	034	ICESat	ALTIMETERS, CD, GLAS, GPS, GPS Receiver, LA, PC	2003-02-20 to 2009-10-11	N: 86 S: -86 E: 180 W: -180	60 Meters to 70 Meters x 60 Meters to 70 Meters	HDF
GLAS/ICESat L2 Global Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheet Altimetry Data (HDF5) V034	034	ICESat	ALTIMETERS, CD, GLAS, GPS, GPS Receiver, LA, PC	2003-02-20 to 2009-10-11	N: 86 S: -86 E: 180 W: -180	60 Meters to 70 Meters x 60 Meters to 70 Meters	HDF
GLAS/ICESat L2 Global Land Surface Altimetry Data (HDF5) V034	034	ICESat	ALTIMETERS, CD, GLAS, GPS, GPS Receiver, LA, PC	2003-02-20 to 2009-10-11	N: 86 S: -86 E: 180 W: -180	60 Meters to 70 Meters x 60 Meters to 70 Meters	HDF
GLAS/ICESat L2 Ocean Altimetry Data (HDF5) V034	034	ICESat	ALTIMETERS, CD, GLAS, GPS, GPS Receiver, LA, PC	2003-02-20 to 2009-10-11	N: 86 S: -86 E: 180 W: -180	60 Meters to 70 Meters x 60 Meters to 70 Meters	HDF
GLAS/ICESat L2 Sea Ice Altimetry Data (HDF5) V034	034	ICESat	ALTIMETERS, CD, GLAS, GPS, GPS Receiver, LA, PC	2003-02-20 to 2009-10-11	N: 86 S: -86 E: 180 W: -180	60 Meters to 70 Meters x 60 Meters to 70 Meters	HDF

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Cryosphere Data Access and Tools

Commonly Used Datasets for Applications in the Cryosphere

Cryosphere Datasets

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