Help Center

Learn the basic steps for using OpenAltimetry to browse and download ICESat-2 data products.

Learn the basic steps for using OpenAltimetry to browse and download ICESat data.

There are two quick start video tutorials listed in the IceBridge Portal application itself. One explains how to discover and order data. The other provides an introduction to the map interface. Explore the tutorials at https://nsidc.org/icebridge/portal/quickstart Last Updated March 2018

This tutorial outlines the steps for visualizing data in EASE-Grid/EASE-Grid2 projection and NetCDF format, using the free software, Panoply. The Panoply data viewer can be downloaded from the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies web page here. This tutorial uses a NetCDF file from the Lagrangian Snow Distrbutions for Sea Ice Applications data set as an example.

The Sea Ice Index and the Arctic Sea Ice News Analysis (ASINA) Web pages provide images derived from passive microwave satellite data that depict the most recent daily sea ice conditions. Last Updated February 2018

The following table lists the tools and services available for ICESat-2 data.

This guide will provide an overview of the altimetry measurements and data sets across the missions, as well as a guide for accessing the data through NASA Earthdata Search and programmatically using an Application Programming Interface (API). Overview The NASA ICESat, Operation IceBridge, and ICESat-2 missions share a common objective of better characterizing changes across Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets, ice shelves, and sea ice through detailed surface elevation measurements.

Yes, it is an element of GLAH06, GLAH12, GLAH13, GLAH14, and GLAH15. 

The lag time between observations and availability of MODIS products is only a few days. Lag time may be extended due to satellite maneuvers and extra quality assurance required for the geolocation data after the maneuver. The MODAPS Terra and Aqua websites contain information on data outages due to satellite maneuvers and instrument failures affecting processing.

The lag time between observations and availability of VIIRS products is only a few days. Lag time may be extended due to satellite maneuvers and extra quality assurance required for the geolocation data after the maneuver. The MODAPS VIIRS/NPP website contains information on data outages due to satellite maneuvers and instrument failures affecting processing.

The NASA Earthdata Cloud is the NASA cloud-based archive of Earth observations. It is hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS). Learn how to find and access NSIDC DAAC data directly in the cloud.

Data subscriptions are available for select NSIDC DAAC data collections. Once signed up, the subscription service automatically sends you new data as they are delivered from active NASA satellite missions.

Data from the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC) can be accessed directly from our HTTPS file system. We provide basic command line Wget and curl instructions for HTTPS file system downloads below.For questions about programmatic access to NSIDC DAAC data, please contact NSIDC User Services: nsidc@nsidc.org

All data from the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC) can be accessed directly from our HTTPS file system, using wget or curl. Basic command line instructions are provided in the article below. 

List of available files The following program files are available for download via HTTPS, along with the TOVS Pathfinder Path-P Daily and Monthly Polar Gridded Atmospheric Parameters data files, in the /tools/ directory.

This articles provides an example MATLAB snippet to read and plot SMAP/Sentinel-1 L2 Radiometer/Radar 30-Second Scene 3 km EASE-Grid Soil Moisture HDF5 soil moisture and brightness temperature data, as well as the related surface and quality flags. These flags are useful for determining the overall quality and surface conditions present when the data were collected by the satellite. %Comment Assign filename to the local variable  >>L2_SM_SP_fname = 'SMAP_L2_SM_SP_1BIWDV_20170908T132624_20170909T003903_102W47N_D17000_001.h5'; 

NASA Earthdata Search is a map-based interface where a user can search for Earth science data, filter results based on spatial and temporal constraints, and order data with customizations including re-formatting, re-projecting, and spatial and parameter subsetting.

Because MODIS sensors have flown on both the Terra and Aqua satellites, NSIDC offers parallel  products derived from MODIS on each satellite. Terra and Aqua products are very similar with a few key differences:

HDFView https://support.hdfgroup.org/products/java/hdfview/ When you first open HDFView, the HDFView window appears with an empty tree and data panel.

The NSIDC Python Reformatting and Subsetting (PyRS) tool is a command line tool which prompts the user to specify data reformatting and subsetting preferences. Output formats available are native, GeoTIFF, and NetCDF. If the dataset is polar stereographic, subsetting can be performed in the projected coordinate system, or the WGS84 coordinate space. PyRS can be used with the following data sets: