Data Announcements

NASA IceBridge Geometrics 823A Cesium Magnetometer L1B Time-Tagged Magnetic Field 2012 Antarctica data and 2009, 2010, and 2011 replacement data are now available from NSIDC. See the IceBridge Geometrics 823A Cesium Magnetometer L1B Time-Tagged Magnetic Field data set landing page for more information.

NSIDC scientist Ted Scambos and colleague Rob Bauer are spending the month of April and part of May in Antarctica to explore the Antarctic Ice Shelf. Read about their explorations on their blog: On Thin Ice: Expedition to Crumbling Antarctic Ice Shelf.

NASA IceBridge KT19 IR Surface Temperature data for 2011 and 2012 Antarctica sea ice and land ice are now available from NSIDC. See the IceBridge KT19 IR Surface Temperature data set landing page for more information.

NSIDC is pleased to announce that the NASA SCP Arctic and Antarctic Ice Extent from QuikSCAT data set has been updated to Version 2 and now includes data through 31 December 2009. Access to the documentation and data, as well as a summary of the version changes, are available from the data set landing page. If you have any questions, please contact NSIDC User Services.

Two papers from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) Joint U.S.-Russian Arctic Sea Ice Atlas created in 2000 have been re-published as NSIDC Special Reports. The first paper, Data on the Geographical Distribution of Sea Ice by R.G. Barry, has been published as NSIDC Special Report #15 and provides a historical review of sea ice data measurements from the mid 1800's to 2000. The second paper, Sea Ice In the Climate System: A Russian View by V. F.

This data set is comprised of four surveyed valleys focusing on the depth to ground ice in the high-elevation Quartermain Mountains in the Beacon Valley area: University Valley, Farnell Valley, and two unnamed valleys north of University Valley, which we will call Valley North and Valley 2 North. To date it is only in the high-elevation Dry Valleys that the climatic conditions are dry and cold enough that cryotic (always below 0°C) yet dry soil is found over ice-cemented ground (McKay et al. 1998); (Bockheim 2007).

NASA IceBridge NSERC L1B Geolocated Meteorologic and Surface Temperature Data for 2012 Antarctica are now available from NSIDC. See the IceBridge NSERC L1B Geolocated Meteorologic and Surface Temperature data set landing page for more information.

NASA Pre-IceBridge ATM L0 Raw Ranges data are now available from NSIDC. See the Pre-IceBridge ATM L0 Raw Ranges data set landing page for more information.

NASA IceBridge Sander AIRGrav L1B Geolocated Free Air Gravity Anomalies data for Antarctica 2012, and replacement Antarctic 2009, 2010, and 2011 data are now available at NSIDC. See the IceBridge Sander AIRGrav L1B Geolocated Free Air Gravity Anomalies data set landing page at for more information.

Arctic climate versus weather, water sky and ice blink, highs, lows, and the Arctic Oscillation: You'll read about them, and much more, in All About Arctic Weather and Climate. This section of our website is designed especially for educators and high-school students, and has been updated with many new illustrations.

The NASA IceBridge ATM L0 Raw Ranges data for Greenland 2009, 2010, and 2011, and Antarctica 2009 and 2010 are now available from NSIDC. See the IceBridge ATM L0 Raw Ranges data set landing page for more information.

The ICESat/GLAS Project Science Team announced that a correction to ICESat surface elevation data products is necessary due to an error in the range determination from transmit-pulse reference selection (centroid vs. Gaussian, G-C). The following products are affected by this finding: GLA06 (global elevation), GLA12 (ice sheet), GLA13 (sea ice), and GLA15 (ocean). GLA14 users who use the range increment for the alternative Gaussian-fitted peaks may want to also use the correction.

A data set comprised of historical Greenland snow accumulation data from 1911 to 1981 has been released in digital format. This data was acquired and compiled by geologist Dr. Carl S. Benson, currently professor emeritus at University of Alaska, Fairbanks. This data set contains Dr. Benson's scientific field study notebooks describing his traverses of Greenland from 1952 to 1955. The notebooks contain data on Greenland snow accumulation, snow temperature, stratigraphy, ice sheet facies, and snow densification. Dr.

This data set is a collection of video data of basal ice taken in a borehole on the Kamb Ice Stream in West Antarctica. Ice streams are an expression of the inherent instability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and their behavior is a key control on the overall ice-sheet mass balance. Understanding the response of the ice sheet in a warming climate requires a thorough understanding of the internal dynamics of ice streams, in addition to the relevant ice-atmosphere and ice-ocean interactions in the region.

The contents of the World Glacier Inventory database have been put into three new formats. A shapefile for those who use GIS software, in a Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) file for those familiar with GMT software, and in a KML file for easy viewing in Google Earth or other virtual globe software. For more information and to access the data, see the World Glacier Inventory data set landing page.

NASA IceBridge DMS L0 Raw Imagery for 2012 Antarctica are now available from NSIDC. See the IceBridge DMS L0 Raw Imagery data set landing page for more information.

NSIDC has released an updated version (Version 2) of the MEaSUREs Global Record of Daily Landscape Freeze/Thaw Status data set led by Principal Investigator, John Kimball, as a part of the NASA Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) program. The updated version features an extended freeze/thaw record spanning 1979 to 2010, derived from both the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) and Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) instruments.

NASA IceBridge POS/AV L1B Corrected Position and Attitude Data for 2012 Antarctica are now available from NSIDC. See the IceBridge POS/AV L1B Corrected Position and Attitude Data Web page at https://nsidc.org/data/ipapp1b for more information.

ICESat/GLAS Altimetry Release-33 HDF5 format data products are now available at NSIDC. 

This data set presents ice sheet history and dynamics on the Thwaites Glacier and Pine Island Glacier in the Amundsen Sea sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.