Data Announcements

The SMAP Science Data System (SDS) has released several new and updated NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) radiometer data products at the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC). The following products have been updated to Version 4: SMAP L2 Radiometer Half-Orbit 36 km EASE-Grid Soil Moisture (SPL2SMP) Data Set DOI: https://doi.org/10.5067/XPJTJT812XFY SMAP L3 Radiometer Global Daily 36 km EASE-Grid Soil Moisture (SPL3SMP) Data Set DOI:

At the American Geophysical Union annual fall meeting this week in San Francisco, NOAA released their 2016 Arctic Report Card. The Arctic Report Card, now in its 11th year, is the work of 61 scientists from 11 nations who report on air, ocean, land, and ecosystem changes.

NOAA@NSIDC is pleased to announce the release of the Sea Ice Mass Balance in the Antarctic (SIMBA) data set. This data set provides different measurements of Antarctic sea ice collected as part of the SIMBA program. The observation program was carried out in the fall of 2007 and the spring of 2009 during a drift program of the Nathaniel B. Palmer icebreaker along with a buoy network established on the Antarctic sea ice. Measurements of ice thickness, temperature profiles, large-scale deformation, and other sea ice characteristics were made.

The search for data can be daunting, but there are tools available to help you along the way. The purpose of this article is to describe two web-based tools, NASA’s Worldview and Earthdata Search, which can be used to work with datasets collected from NASA satellite missions. The tools can complement one another when searching for and visualizing some data, but are intended to serve different needs. Both tools can be used with a number of datasets available at NSIDC[1].

NASA IceBridge POS/AV L1B Corrected Position and Attitude Data for summer 2016 Arctic flights are now available from the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC). This data set contains georeferencing data from the Applanix 510 POS AV system flown with the Digital Mapping System (DMS) and other instruments over Greenland and Antarctica. Data set DOI: https://doi.org/10.5067/XILTNL9F1HCR

NASA IceBridge DMS L0 Raw Imagery for the summer 2016 Arctic campaign is now available from the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC). This data set contains level zero imagery taken from the Digital Mapping System (DMS) over Antarctica and Greenland. Data Set DOI: https://doi.org/10.5067/UMFN22VHGGMH

NOAA@NSIDC is pleased to announce that the NOAA@NSIDC Climate Data Record of Passive Microwave Sea Ice Concentration, Version 2 data set is now available through 2015. This data set provides a Climate Data Record (CDR) of sea ice concentration from passive microwave data. It provides a consistent, daily and monthly time series of sea ice concentrations from 09 July 1987 through 2015 for both the north and south polar regions on a 25 km x 25 km grid. Data Set DOI: https://doi.org/10.7265/N55M63M1

The MEaSUREs Greenland Ice Velocity: Selected Glacier Site Velocity Maps from InSAR data set at the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC) has been updated with velocity maps for 2015. These data are generated through a grant from the NASA Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) Program. Data Set DOI: https://doi.org/10.5067/MEASURES/CRYOSPHERE/nsidc-0481.001

Version 2 of Antarctic Grounding Line from Differential Satellite Radar Interferometry data set is now available at the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC). This data set, part of the Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) Program, provides 22 years of comprehensive high-resolution mapping of grounding lines in Antarctica, derived using differential satellite synthetic aperture radar interferometry (DInSAR) data.

A key component of the research process is leveraging existing work to build new conclusions and discussion. Throughout the history of peer-reviewed literature, it has been necessary to reference relevant research publications. Traditionally, the final piece of literature produced by a research project was referenced, but it is clear that the data utilized in producing the work is just as important as the work itself.

NASA IceBridge-related Level-4 9ka Greenland Ice Sheet Balance Velocity data are now published at the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC). This data set contains calculated balance velocity of the Greenland Ice Sheet during the last three quarters of the Holocene epoch (9ka). Data Set DOI: https://doi.org/10.5067/FZHPYHXJ4JGV

Due to a problem with the Antenna Scan Angle file used to process the half-orbit 08619_D, the SMAP Science Data System (SDS) has removed the following files: SMAP_L1A_RADIOMETER_08619_D_20160911T214948_R13080_001.h5 SMAP_L1B_TB_08619_D_20160911T214948_R13080_001.h5 SMAP_L1C_TB_08619_D_20160911T214948_R13080_001.h5 SMAP_L2_SM_P_08619_D_20160911T214948_R13080_001.h5 In addition, the SMAP Level-3 Soil Moisture Radiometer composite file that contains the affected half-orbit scan has been regenerated without half-orbit 08619_D in order to replace the errant file.

The Northern Hemisphere EASE-Grid 2.0 Weekly Snow Cover and Sea Ice Extent data set, available at the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC) was updated to Version 4.1 because the input data to this data set, Sea Ice Concentrations from Nimbus-7 SMMR and DMSP SSM/I-SSMIS Passive Microwave Data, NSIDC-0051, was updated. The temporal coverage of this data set was also updated through 27 December 2015.

The Bootstrap Sea Ice Concentrations from Nimbus-7 SMMR and DMSP SSM/I-SSMIS data set, available at the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC) has been updated through 31 December 2015. Data Set DOI: https://doi.org/10.5067/J6JQLS9EJ5HU.

NASA IceBridge DMS L1B Geolocated and Orthorectified Images for 2016 Arctic are now available at the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC). This data set contains Level-1B imagery taken from the Digital Mapping System (DMS) over Greenland and Antarctica. Data set DOI: https://doi.org/10.5067/OZ6VNOPMPRJ0

The NASA IceBridge Snow Radar L1B Geolocated Radar Echo Strength Profiles Version 2 data set now includes data for 2009 to 2012 Antarctica. Version 1 2009 to 2011 Antarctica data, previously in binary format, have been moved to ECS and are now in netCDF format included with Version 2.2. In addition, 2012 Antarctica data were added to the V2.2 collection. This data set contains radar echograms taken from the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS) ultra wide-band snow radar over land and sea ice in the Arctic and Antarctic.

The Multi-year Greenland Ice Sheet Velocity Mosaic data set is now available at the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC). This data set, part of the Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) Program, contains a multi-year ice-sheet-wide velocity mosaic for Greenland derived from Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), and Landsat 8 optical imagery data.

The NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC) has updated the Northern Hemisphere EASE-Grid 2.0 Weekly Snow Cover and Sea Ice Extent data set to a Version 4.1 because the input data to this data set, Sea Ice Concentrations from Nimbus-7 SMMR and DMSP SSM/I-SSMIS Passive Microwave Data, was updated. The temporal coverage for this data set was also updated to 31 December 2015.

This NASA Earthdata Webinar will provide guidance on fundamental data management practices that NASA ABoVE investigators should perform during the course of data collection to improve the usability of their data sets. The topics covered will include how to structure your data files, define variables and units, perform quality control, and develop data documentation so that others can find, understand, and use your data. An introduction to Data Management practices to support collaborative research, and information on submitting data to the ORNL DAAC will also be provided.

NOAA@NSIDC is pleased to announce that the Google Earth animation for the maximum annual Arctic sea ice extent has been updated. The March 2016 maximum has been added to the time series in the KMZ file. To view these, and other, Google Earth files, visit the NSIDC Data on Google Earth web page.