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Across the globe, snow and ice play a vital role in regulating Earth’s climate and providing freshwater resources to people, plants, and animals.
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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.

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The edge of Greenland Ice Sheet in summer
Greenland Ice Sheet melt season starts
Analysis - Ice Sheets Today
On April 25, 2024, a moderately strong melt event kicked things off early on the Greenland Ice Sheet. Since then, however, the melt season has been fairly typical. Snowfall in early June blanketed exposed ice, which will slow the onset of more intense melting and run off for the next few weeks. Overall, melting in Greenland has remained well above the 1980s and 1990s levels since 2013, but the 2012 season remains a distinct record.
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Snowflake in snowpack
May snowstorms brighten summer outlook
Analysis - Snow Today
Snow-covered area in May 2024 across the western United States was 56 percent above average (Table 1), at 156,000 square kilometers (60,000 square miles) of snow cover, ranking third highest in the 24-year satellite record. May snowfall brightened the snow cover in some areas while others darkened from lack of snowfall.
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Click to animate. This NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) True Color animation flickers between May 20, 2024, and May 21, 2024, to show the progression of the polar low. Greenland is on its left; Iceland is to its right.
An early Hudson Bay opening
Analysis - Sea Ice Today

The sea ice cover in May 2024 was marked by an unusually early opening of eastern Hudson Bay. Overall, the rate of decline in the Arctic was near average for the month.

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map of snow
Too little, too late
Analysis - Snow Today
Snow-covered area was 203 percent of average for April, ranking second highest in the 24-year satellite record. Despite a snowy April, snow cover days were below average because of a widespread slow start to the snow season. States in the north reported below-average snow water equivalent, while the opposite was true for states in the south.
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his plot shows the average sea level pressure in the Arctic in millibars for April 2024.
Western Arctic leads the way on springtime decline
Analysis - Sea Ice Today

April sea ice loss in the Arctic proceeded at a near-average rate overall, with the majority of ice losses in the Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk. In the Antarctic, sea ice grew faster than average, roughly evenly around the entire continent.

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The top maps show sea ice age for the week of March 11 to March 17 for (a) 1984 and (b) 2024. The bottom graph is a timeseries of the percent of the sea ice extent within the Arctic Ocean domain (inset map) for the same time period from 1984 through 2024
Arctic sea ice: Walking on sunshine
Analysis - Sea Ice Today

Following the 2024 maximum sea ice extent on March 14, Arctic ice extent has declined slowly such that 2024 March average is the fifteenth lowest in the passive microwave satellite record.

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