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Advancing knowledge of Earth's frozen regions since 1976

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Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets
skiers drop in from a cliff in Silverton, Colorado
Analysis - Ice Sheets Today
March 25, 2025
Melting on the Antarctic Ice Sheet for the 2024 to 2025 season began with above average melt extents in all regions, but melt extent dropped to nearly zero or below average from February 1 to March 15. Net accumulation of snow, part of the ice sheet’s surface mass balance, was far above average for the year, helping reduce the ice sheet’s net contribution to sea level rise for this period.

Data, research & analysis updates

Arctic sea ice has likely reached its maximum extent for the year, at 14.33 million square kilometers (5.53 million square miles) on March 22, according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado Boulder. The 2025 maximum sea ice extent is the lowest in the 47-year satellite record, falling short of the previous record low of 14.41 million square kilometers (5.56 million square miles) set on March 7, 2017.
Melting on the Antarctic Ice Sheet for the 2024 to 2025 season began with above average melt extents in all regions, but melt extent dropped to nearly zero or below average from February 1 to March 15. Net accumulation of snow, part of the ice sheet’s surface mass balance, was far above average for the year, helping reduce the ice sheet’s net contribution to sea level rise for this period.

Data management programs at NSIDC

A satellite view of Malaspina Glacier in Alaska

NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC)

Open access cryosphere and related geophysical data from NASA Earth-observing satellite missions, airborne campaigns, and field observations.
methane bubbles frozen in lake in Canada

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) at NSIDC

A NOAA-funded program providing open access data from satellites, field instruments, weather stations, historical records, and rescued data.
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Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic (ELOKA): Data Curation for Indigenous Communities

Working with Indigenous communities in the Arctic to preserve and promote their data and knowledge for use in scientific studies.