On Wednesday, May 25, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. (USA Mountain Time), the following data collections may not be available due to planned system maintenance: AMSR-E, Aquarius, High Mountain Asia, IceBridge, ICESat/GLAS, ICESat-2, MEaSUREs, MODIS, NISE, SMAP, SnowEx, and VIIRS.

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Data Set ID: 
NSIDC-0477

MEaSUREs Global Record of Daily Landscape Freeze/Thaw Status, Version 4

This data set, part of the NASA Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) program, consists of two global records of the daily freeze/thaw (F/T) status of the landscape. The primary record is derived from radiometric brightness temperatures acquired between 1979 and 2017 by three satellite-based passive microwave sensors: the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR), the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I), and the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS).

A second, synergistic record is available for the years 2002 to 2017, derived from observations acquired by the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer - Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) and the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2).

There is a more recent version of these data.

Version Summary: 
  • Extended F/T record to 2017;
  • F/T domain expanded to all land areas affected by seasonal freezing, including urban, snow-ice dominant, open water body dominant, and barren land;
  • Added a modified seasonal threshold algorithm (MSTA) and pixel-wise, annual MSTA calibration using daily surface air temperature records;
  • Added bit flags to identify cells (and days) with missing/interpolated Tb, large open water bodies, complex terrain, and large precipitation events;

COMPREHENSIVE Level of Service

Data: Data integrity and usability verified; data customization services available for select data

Documentation: Key metadata and comprehensive user guide available

User Support: Assistance with data access and usage; guidance on use of data in tools and data customization services

See All Level of Service Details

Parameter(s):
  • SNOW/ICE > FREEZE/THAW
Data Format(s):
  • GIF
  • HDF
  • GeoTIFF
Spatial Coverage:
N: 86.7167, 
S: -86.7167, 
E: 179.9999, 
W: -179.9999
Platform(s):Aqua, DMSP 5D-2/F11, DMSP 5D-2/F13, DMSP 5D-2/F8, DMSP 5D-3/F17, FY-3B, GCOM-W1, Nimbus-7
Spatial Resolution:
  • 25 km x 25 km
Sensor(s):AMSR-E, AMSR2, MWRI, SMMR, SSM/I, SSMIS
Temporal Coverage:
  • 1 January 1979 to 31 December 2016
  • 19 June 2002 to 27 September 2016
  • 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2017
Version(s):V4
Temporal Resolution1 dayMetadata XML:View Metadata Record
Data Contributor(s):Youngwook Kim, John Kimball, Joe Glassy, Kyle McDonald

Geographic Coverage
Other Access Options

Other Access Options

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Download Via HTTPS: An Earthdata Login account is required to access these data.

Once you have logged in, you will be able to click and download files via a Web browser. There are also options for downloading via a command line or client. For more detailed instructions, please see Options Available for Bulk Downloading Data from HTTPS with Earthdata Login.

Earthdata Search: This application allows you to search, visualize, and access data across thousands of Earth science data sets. Additional customization services are available for select data sets, including subsetting, reformatting, and reprojection.

As a condition of using these data, you must cite the use of this data set using the following citation. For more information, see our Use and Copyright Web page.

Kim, Y., J. S. Kimball, J. Glassy, and K. C. McDonald. 2017. MEaSUREs Global Record of Daily Landscape Freeze/Thaw Status, Version 4. [Indicate subset used]. Boulder, Colorado USA. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. doi: https://doi.org/10.5067/MEASURES/CRYOSPHERE/nsidc-0477.004. [Date Accessed].

Literature Citation

As a condition of using these data, we request that you acknowledge the author(s) of this data set by referencing the following peer-reviewed publication.

  • Kim, Y., J. S. Kimball, J. Glassy, and J. Du. 2017. An Extended Global Earth System Data Record on Daily Landscape Freeeze-Thaw Determined from Satellite Passive Microwave Remote Sensing, Earth System Science Data. 9. 133–147. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-133-2017

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How To

Programmatic Data Access Guide
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How do I convert a GeoTIFF into a NetCDF file?
We recommend using the Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL) to convert GeoTIFF files into a different format. If you want to reproject to lat/lon as well, then we recommend reprojecting before converting to NetCDF (see the FAQ "How do I reproject a GeoTIFF to from polar steroegraphic to... read more
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