NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC)
Enabling researchers and data users to better understand how changes in the cryosphere impact our planet.
Catch up on news and stories about how NSIDC DAAC data are being used in research, as well as spotlights on how you can use the data, tools and resources we offer. If you are using NSIDC DAAC data in your research, teaching, or some other way, let us know and we may feature your work in our next article. Share your story with us today.
News & Stories
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The ICESat-2 mission provides data sets on land ice and sea ice, and those data sets have been applied to myriad studies of Earth’s frozen regions, but ICESat-2 data offerings do not end there. Researchers can also use ICESat-2 observations to study surface-height changes in land and vegetation, inland water bodies, ocean surfaces, and atmospheric features.
In 2011, a group of scientists in southeastern Greenland discovered a massive perennial firn aquifer—a year-round, water-bearing layer within the firn. Since then, scientists have discovered more areas around the world bearing this ice feature, but questions remain to their development and impact.
In March 2023, NSIDC's Alan Bourgeois and Jesslyn Di Fiori headed to Fairbanks, Alaska, for the NASA SnowEx 2023 field campaign, or as they described it, “a crash course in snow science.” Their participation in this campaign provided a unique experience to participate in the creation of data.
NSIDC’s Nenana Ice Classic: Tanana River Ice Annual Breakup Dates data set provides a record of ice-breakup dates related to an annual contest that started in 1917 and remains a heated competition over a century later.
As NASA moves their data, including data collections managed and housed at their 12 distributed active archive centers (DAACs), over to the Earthdata Cloud, the organization will lean on Openscapes. To support NASA DAAC researchers during the data migration to the cloud, Openscapes developed the Openscapes Framework, a scalable leadership training and community-building framework which includes three components: engaging DAAC mentors, empowering science research teams, and amplifying open science leaders.
If you have ever felt unsure of what to do next when finding, downloading, or working with a data product distributed by NSIDC, then our user resources are for you.