Data Announcements

NOAA@NSIDC is pleased to announce that the International Ice Patrol (IIP) has updated their Iceberg Sightings Database through the 2015 iceberg season. The IIP has been collecting information on iceberg activity in the North Atlantic since 1913, and this database contains data from these sightings starting in 1960. The IIP data files include latitude and longitude of sighted icebergs, coded iceberg size and shape class, and date and time of the sighting.

The NASA IceBridge Snow Radar L1B Geolocated Radar Echo Strength Profiles Version 1 and Version 2 data products have been updated. Version 1 2009 to 2012 Greenland MATLAB and binary data files have been reformatted to netCDF and the 2009 to 2012 Greenland data are now included with Version 2. The data remaining in Version 1 are Antarctica 2009 to 2011. A time field correction has been applied to data files for Version 2 2013 Greenland campaigns. On 10 February 2016, deconvolution files and supplement files were added to the Version 2 2009 to 2015 Greenland data files captured over sea ice.

The NASA IceBridge LVIS L0 Raw Ranges data set now includes data for the 2015 Antarctica campaign. This data set contains raw laser altimeter, Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), Global Positioning System (GPS), and camera data over Greenland, Antarctica, and Alaska taken from the NASA Land, Vegetation, and Ice Sensor (LVIS). Data set DOI: https://doi.org/10.5067/E6JPQ3QNW77R

This data set resides on an FTP server that was upgraded from WU-FTP to Pure-FTP in November 2015. Unfortunately, Pure-FTP does not support the tar-on-the-fly functionality that was offered by WU-FTP.

Fifty years ago today, the first satellite in the NOAA@NSIDC Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA) series of satellites, ESSA-1, acquired its first image. The image was of Antarctica. Now, NSIDC’s Garrett Campbell and David Gallaher are attempting to organize the rescue of data from the satellite. They hope to use the recovered imagery to locate the position of the southern hemisphere’s sea ice edge, as was possible after rescuing infrared imagery from the early NASA NIMBUS series. It won’t be easy to rescue the ESSA-1 data.

The AMSR-E Science Investigator-led Processing System (SIPS) has completed reprocessing of the “AMSR-E/Aqua L2B Global Swath Surface Precipitation GSFC Profiling Algorithm” data set to Version 3. Both Version 2 and 3 data are available for six months, after which, Version 2 will be discontinued. For more information access to the data, refer to the AMSR-E collection.

The Antarctic Glaciological Data Center (AGDC) at NSIDC is pleased to announce the release of a new data set, Ultra-trace Measurements in the WAIS Divide 06A Ice Core. These data contain the results of gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of 207 samples from the WAIS Divide 06A ice core. The trace gases found in the 207 samples are ethane (C2H6), propane (C3H8), n-butane (n-C4H10), carbonyl sulfide (COS), carbon disulfide (CS2), methyl chloride (CH3Cl), and methyl bromide (CH3Br).

The SMAP Science Data System (SDS) has completed reprocessing of NASA SMAP Level-2 and -3 radar and combined radar/radiometer data to Beta Version 2.

NASA IceBridge ATM L1B Elevation and Return Strength data for 2015 Arctic are now available from the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC). This data set contains spot elevation measurements of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice, and Greenland, Antarctic Peninsula, and West Antarctic region ice surface acquired using the NASA Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM) instrumentation. Data set DOI: https://doi.org/10.5067/19SIM5TXKPGT

NASA IceBridge ATM L2 Icessn Elevation, Slope, and Roughness data for 2015 Arctic are now available from the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC). This data set contains resampled and smoothed elevation measurements of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice, and Greenland, Antarctic Peninsula, and West Antarctic region land ice surface acquired using the NASA Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM) instrumentation.

NASA IceBridge Narrow Swath ATM L1B Elevation and Return Strength data for 2015 Arctic are now available from the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC). This data set contains spot elevation measurements of Greenland, Arctic, and Antarctic sea ice acquired using the NASA Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM) 4CT3 narrow scan instrumentation. Data set DOI: https://doi.org/10.5067/CXEQS8KVIXEI

Arctic Matters Day is a free public program that will be held 14 January 2016 at the National Academy of Sciences building in Washington, DC. It will provide an overview of the dramatic environmental changes affecting the Arctic region and the ways that these changes can potentially affect the entire planet. If you are in the Washington D.C. area, consider attending the free public program, Arctic Matters Day.

The Glacier Photograph Collection, managed by NOAA@NSIDC, will get a big boost in 2016 from a Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) grant. The Glacier Photograph Collection includes over 15,000 digital images available online, as well as an analog collection of photographic prints of glaciers from around the world beginning in the mid-1850s.

The NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC) is pleased to announce that the Sea Ice Concentrations from Nimbus-7 SMMR and DMSP SSM/I-SSMIS Passive Microwave Data, data set has been updated through 31 May 2015. Data Set DOI: https://doi.org/10.5067/8GQ8LZQVL0VL

Throughout the life of the NASA ICESat mission and beyond, ICESat/GLAS data have been distributed in binary format by the National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC). These data have been extremely popular but not always conducive for all users to work with due to their binary format.

The Aquarius polar-gridded Version 5 products are now available at the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC). These data sets include weekly polar-gridded Level-3 products of Aquarius L-band Normalized Radar Cross Section retrievals, Sea Surface Salinity retrievals, and radiometer Brightness Temperature observations. To access the data and documentation, please see:

The NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC) has released Alaska Tidewater Glacier Terminus Positions data. This data set contains Alaska tidewater glacier terminus positions digitized from USGS topographic maps and Landsat images. To obtain these data, visit Alaska Tidewater Glacier Terminus Position, Version 1 Data Set DOI: https://doi.org/10.5067/3OOVUDFK3R0W

The SMAP Science Data System (SDS) has completed reprocessing of NASA SMAP Level-1, -2, and -3 radiometer data products to Version 2. The following data sets are now available for the full radiometer time series, 31 March 2015 to present, at the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC): SMAP L1A Radiometer Time-Ordered Parsed Telemetry (SPL1AP) Data Set DOI: https://doi.org/10.5067/JGV8EY3FGAH1

NOAA@NSIDC is pleased to announce that we have updated the Google Earth file for the annual minimum Arctic sea ice extent for 2015. The September 2015 minimum KMZ file has been updated to show the 2015 September Arctic sea ice minimum. To view these, and other, Google Earth files, visit the NSIDC Data on Google Earth web page.

The NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC) has released Version 2 of MEaSUREs Greenland Ice Sheet Velocity Map from InSAR Data.