• On Wednesday, October 29 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (US Mountain Time), this data set may not be available in the legacy data archive due to a planned system maintenance. Earthdata Cloud access will remain available for data sets that have migrated. Users of the SMAP near real-time products should use the NASA LANCE HTTPS File System for data access.

  • VIIRS Version 1 (Collection 1) snow and sea ice data sets will cease forward processing on June 17, 2024. The Version 1 data will remain available for download, but users are encouraged to transition to VIIRS Version 2. VIIRS Version 2 includes new snow, sea ice, and ice surface temperature data sets from both the NASA/NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-20 (NOAA-20) satellite.

  • The NSIDC DAAC is retiring access to its legacy, on-premises data archive and transitioning to the NASA Earthdata Cloud as the primary data archive. View planned retirement dates here.

VIIRS/NPP Sea Ice Cover 6-Min L2 Swath 375 m, Version 1
Data set id:
VNP29
DOI: 10.5067/VIIRS/VNP29.001
There is a more recent version of these data.
Version Summary
New data set
In this section
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Overview

This data set reports the location of sea ice cover derived from radiance data acquired by the Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). Following the approach used by MODIS, Sea Ice is detected using the Normalized Difference Snow Index. The VIIRS instrument flies onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite. As of April 2025, this data set is retired and no longer available for download. Data from the "Golden Month," a 40-day window from 29 August, 2018 to 7 October, 2018 are available by special request from NSIDC User Services. We recommend using VIIRS/NPP Sea Ice Cover 6-Min L2 Swath 375m, Version 2 as an alternative.
Parameter(s):
SEA ICE
Platform(s):
Suomi-NPP
Sensor(s):
VIIRS
Data Format(s):
netCDF-4
Temporal Coverage:
  • 19 January 2012 to 17 June 2024
Temporal Resolution:
  • 6 minute
Spatial Resolution:
  • 375 m
  • 375 m
Spatial Reference System(s):
Not Specified
Spatial Coverage:
  • N:
    90
    S:
    -90
    E:
    180
    W:
    -180
Blue outlined yellow areas on the map below indicate the spatial coverage for this data set.

Data Access & Tools

This data set has been retired. There is a more recent version of these data.

Documentation

Help Articles

General Questions & FAQs

FAQs About NSIDC DAAC's Earthdata Cloud Migration
This article covers frequently asked questions about the NASA NSIDC DAAC's Earthdata cloud migration project and what it means to data users.
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How does VIIRS snow and sea ice data compare to MODIS
Data products from VIIRS are created to be similar to MODIS data products to ensure the continuity needed for the development of snow and sea ice climate records beyond the life expectancy of MODIS. The temporal resolution and spatial extent are identical in MODIS and VIIRS.
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Missing and delayed VIIRS data
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.
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What data subsetting, reformatting, and reprojection services are available for VIIRS data?
This short article describes the customization services available for VIIRS data using Earthdata Search.
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When will the legacy, on-premises archive be retired?
The NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC) is migrating its primary data access from its legacy, on-premises archive to the NASA Earthdata Cloud.
Read More

How to Articles

Filter and order from a data set web page using the Data Access Tool
Many NSIDC DAAC data sets can be accessed using NSIDC DAAC's Data Access Tool. This tool provides the ability to search and filter data with spatial and temporal constraints using a map-based interface.Users have the option to:
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NASA Earthdata Cloud Data Access Guide
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.
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Search, order, and customize NSIDC DAAC data with NASA Earthdata Search
This article highlights the NSIDC DAAC data sets available with customization options and outlines a workflow for searching, ordering, and customizing data in NASA Earthdata Search. This approach is ideal for users who want to download data to their local machine.
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