News & Stories
Across the globe, snow and ice play a vital role in regulating Earth’s climate and providing freshwater resources to people, plants, and animals.
As Earth’s frozen regions change rapidly, NSIDC is committed to growing its research and open access data to better understand these changes. Read about NSIDC research and its contribution to science and policy making. Check out spotlights on how to use NSIDC data, tools, and resources. Learn about how we steward data and collaborate with scientists and organizations across the world to understand how the frozen parts of Earth affect the rest of the planet and impact society.
News and stories
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Feature Story
Using decades of satellite snow data from NASA’s NSIDC DAAC, researchers discovered that caribou in the Bathurst herd begin their epic migration just days after Arctic snowmelt begins—revealing a striking and consistent link between thawing landscapes and animal movement. The study highlights how high-resolution, open-access data is uncovering vital patterns in wildlife behavior amid a rapidly changing climate.
Spotlight
The NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC) offers an interactive tool called IceFlow to harmonize nearly 30 years of lidar data.
Feature Story
IceFlow helped harmonize and standardize decades of lidar data for cryosphere research. While the tool has been retired due to low usage, known issues, and its reliance on the soon-to-be-phased-out ECS system, its core functionality lives on through open-source resources.
Analysis - Snow Today
Snow-covered area in May across the western United States was 9 percent above average, at 105,000 square kilometers (41,000 square miles) of snow cover, ranking twelfth in the 25-year satellite record. Snow-covered area for May was 67,000 square kilometers (25,000 square miles) below 2011, the highest year, and 53,000 square kilometers (21,000 square miles) above 2015, the lowest May on record.
Analysis - Sea Ice Today
May sea ice extent in the Arctic averaged 12.56 million square kilometers (4.85 million square miles), tying with 2004 for seventh lowest on the 47-year satellite record. Antarctic sea ice extent for May was fifth lowest in the satellite record, but below average growth through the month resulted in the daily ice extent moving away from the 1981 to 2010 average.
News Release
CIRES and NSIDC scientist Mark Seefeldt will travel to Norway in 2026 as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar to advance research on Arctic temperature extremes.