Our Research

Antarctic sea ice has likely reached its maximum extent for the year, at 16.96 million square kilometers (6.55 million square miles) on September 10, according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado Boulder. The 2023 maximum is the lowest in the 45-year satellite record.

A strong weather pattern from August 21 to 24 caused widespread melting across Greenland. This unusually late summer melt event was caused by a high and low air pressure configuration known as an omega pattern because of its jet stream shape.

The Contribution to High Asia Runoff (CHARIS) project began in 2012 and ended in 2019. The project aimed to distinguish between input from seasonal snow melt and glacier ice melt to High Asia rivers.

Long-time National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) scientist Richard Armstrong died August 3, 2023. He is remembered with admiration by colleagues and friends around the world.

The ICESat-2 mission provides data sets on land ice and sea ice, and those data sets have been applied to myriad studies of Earth’s frozen regions, but ICESat-2 data offerings do not end there. Researchers can also use ICESat-2 observations to study surface-height changes in land and vegetation, inland water bodies, ocean surfaces, and atmospheric features.

In 2011, a group of scientists in southeastern Greenland discovered a massive perennial firn aquifer—a year-round, water-bearing layer within the firn. Since then, scientists have discovered more areas around the world bearing this ice feature, but questions remain to their development and impact.