NASA Earthdata Cloud Data Access Guide

The NASA Earthdata Cloud is NASA’s cloud-based archive of Earth observations. It is hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS). The NSIDC DAAC is currently transferring data products to the Earthdata Cloud. The list of NSIDC DAAC data products available in Earthdata Cloud is provided in NSIDC Data Search.

This guide provides an overview of how to access NSIDC DAAC data in Earthdata Cloud, covering two main approaches:

Direct Cloud Access: Work with data directly in the cloud
Local Download: Download cloud-hosted data to your computer

This guide also provides information on customization options for NSIDC DAAC data in the Earthdata Cloud.

Key things to know

Downloading data from the Earthdata Cloud to your local computer or storage system is and will continue to be free for users. You don't need an AWS account to download data. For more general information on the Earthdata Cloud please see FAQs about NSIDC DAACs Earthdata Cloud migration.
The NASA Earthdata Cloud Cookbook provides tutorials for finding data in Earthdata Search, Python, and R.
This guide will be updated with more information as more tools for accessing data in the cloud become available.

Direct Cloud Access (S3)

Instead of downloading data, you can work directly with NSIDC DAAC holdings stored in Amazon S3—the object storage service used by NASA Earthdata Cloud. This approach lets you stream data into memory and analyze it "in place", avoiding large transfers to your local computer.

Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud)

EC2 provides virtual machines that you can configure to run your analysis in the AWS Cloud, close to where the data lives.

Command Line in EC2 – Use AWS CLI and temporary Earthdata credentials to access S3 directly.
Full walkthrough: Launch and connect to a free AWS EC2 instance
JupyterLab on EC2 – Launch a JupyterLab environment on an EC2 instance and connect directly to Earthdata Cloud holdings. The example notebook demonstrates how to use the earthaccess Python library to search and download data.
Full walkthrough: Accessing NASA Earthdata in the Cloud with JupyterLab on EC2
Tip: While the example in the tutorial uses a notebook to access ICESat-2, the same workflow can be adapted to other data sets or customized for your own code.

Direct Download (to Your Local Machine)

Choose this approach if you want to store and process data on your own computer.

Option 1: Browser-Based (No Coding Required)

If you prefer a graphical interface, use one of these web-based tools:

Earthdata Search - Filter and customize data before downloading files.
HTTPS file system (CMR Virtual Directory) - Browse folders by year/month/day and download individual files directly

Full guide: Downloading NSIDC DAAC Earthdata Cloud Data Using a Web Browser

Option 2: Command Line Tools (wget, curl, PODAAC subscriber)

If you're comfortable using the terminal, command-line tools allow flexible and efficient downloading.

wget or curl – Download known files or batch download from an HTTPS URL list.
Learn to create .txt files of download links here: Creating Text Files of HTTPS and S3 URLs for Earthdata Cloud Data Access
CMR Virtual Directory + wget – Navigate to specific dates or directories in the CMR Virtual Directory and use those URLs with wget
PODAAC Data Subscriber – A Python-based command-line tool that supports spatial and temporal filtering. Though designed for PODAAC, it can be adapted for NSIDC and other DAACs.

All these command line options are detailed in this help article: Downloading Data from Earthdata Cloud to Your Local Computer Using the Command Line

Option 3: Python (`earthaccess` Library)

The earthaccess Python library provides a streamlined way to search, authenticate, and download NASA Earthdata. It works both locally and in the cloud (e.g., on EC2 or JupyterHub environments).

Getting started: Downloading NSIDC DAAC Earthdata Cloud Data Using earthaccess

Customize Data in the Cloud with Earthdata Harmony

Select NSIDC DAAC datasets in the cloud can be customized using Harmony. This article provides step-by-step instructions for customizing cloud-based data using Harmony services available through NASA Earthdata Search: https://nsidc.org/data/user-resources/help-center/search-order-and-customize-nsidc-daac-data-nasa-earthdata-search.

The pages below offer guidance on using the Harmony API for programmatic data access to NASA NSIDC DAAC datasets in the Earthdata Cloud:

The NASA Openscapes tutorial (https://nasa-openscapes.github.io/earthdata-cloud-cookbook/tutorials/IS2_Harmony.html) provides a step-by-step guide on using Harmony to subset ICESat-2 data using the harmony-py Python library.
The NSIDC Harmony API Quickstart Guide (https://nsidc.org/data/user-resources/help-center/harmony-api-quickstart-guide-customizing-nasa-nsidc-daac-data-earthdata-cloud) explains how to use the API to request customized data with specific temporal and spatial filters. It covers topics such as formatting API endpoints, submitting jobs to Harmony, monitoring job status, and downloading processed data.

Resources

The NASA Earthdata Cloud Cookbook is a comprehensive resource that provides tutorials, guides, and examples for accessing and working with NASA data in the cloud: https://nasa-openscapes.github.io/earthdata-cloud-cookbook/

General Information about the Earthdata Cloud: Earthdata Cloud Cookbook - Cheatsheets, Guides and Slides

Tutorials for working with NASA DAAC data in the cloud, including tutorials on using the CMR API and direct S3 access: Earthdata Cloud Cookbook - Tutorials