Cryosphere

Cryospheric variables include sea ice concentration, sea ice thickness, snow cover, glacier extent, and more. Overview pages summarize and compare selected datasets of a given variable.

To find a specific dataset or variable, jump to the search box below or click your desired variable from among the blue sub-category buttons.

To view only the datasets with commentaries from experts, select the "Datasets with guidance" button when using the search box.

Climate datasets

Has expert guidance
NSIDC Sea Ice Index NSIDC Sea Ice Index

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The NSIDC Sea Ice Index is a suite of easy-to-use sea ice analyses to track changes in Arctic and Antarctic sea ice. The product is produced and supported by the NOAA at…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration
From Petty et al. (2020); provided by Rachel Tilling Sea Ice Thickness Data Sets: Overview & Comparison Table

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While satellite observations of sea ice extent and concentration are available from 1979, long-term high quality (daily and high spatial resolution) observations of sea ice…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Thickness
(credit: Signe Aaboe and Thomas Lavergne) Sea Ice Concentration Climate Data Record from OSI SAF

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The Ocean and Sea Ice Satellite Applications Facility (OSI SAF) of EUMETSAT provides sea ice concentration products for the Arctic and Antarctic based on satellite passive…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean
Sea Ice Concentration: NOAA/NSIDC Climate Data Record Sea Ice Concentration: NOAA/NSIDC Climate Data Record

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The NOAA/NSIDC Climate Data Record (CDR) of sea ice concentration is available at 25 x 25 km spatial resolution in daily or monthly timesteps for 1987-2014. It provides a…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean
Daily Arctic sea ice volume from PIOMAS for each year from January 1, 1979 to November 30, 2022 using shades of blue to red in sequential order for every line. The decadal averages are annotated on the right side. (contributed by Z. Labe) Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS)

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The Pan-Arctic Ice-Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System (PIOMAS) is a reanalysis data set that uses a coupled ice and ocean model to provide daily and monthly estimates of…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Thickness Ocean
Walsh and Chapman Northern Hemisphere Sea Ice Walsh and Chapman Northern Hemisphere Sea Ice

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The Walsh and Chapman Sea Ice Data Set provides a long record of Arctic sea ice concentrations on a monthly basis for 1870-2011. Historical observations were gridded and…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean
Sea Ice Concentration data from NASA Goddard and NSIDC based on NASA Team algorithm Sea Ice Concentration data from NASA Goddard and NSIDC based on NASA Team algorithm

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NASA Team sea ice refers to a well-known algorithm used to estimate sea ice concentration from passive microwave brightness temperatures. This page discusses the algorithm…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean

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Sea Ice Concentration data from NASA Goddard and NSIDC using AMSR-E and NASA TEAM2 (NT2) algorithm Sea Ice Concentration data from NASA Goddard and NSIDC using AMSR-E and NASA TEAM2 (NT2) algorithm

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The AMSR-E/NASA Team 2 (NT2) data set of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice concentration is available at daily timesteps and 12.5 km (optionally 25km) spatial resolution for 2002…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean

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Sea Ice Concentration data from AMSR-E, AMSR2 & SSMIS, U Bremen and U Hamburg ASI algorithm Sea Ice Concentration data from AMSR-E, AMSR2 & SSMIS, U Bremen and U Hamburg ASI algorithm

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The sea ice data derived from AMSR-E using the ARTIST sea ice (ASI) algorithm offer a factor of 4 finer spatial resolution than most sea ice data sets from passive microwave…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean

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Sea Ice Concentration data from NOAA OI Sea Ice Concentration data from NOAA OI

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The NOAA Optimal Interpolation (OI) v2 sea ice data set contains gridded, weekly or monthly resolution sea ice concentration estimates for both the Northern and Southern…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean

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Sea Ice Concentration data: Overview, Comparison table and graphs Sea Ice Concentration data: Overview, Comparison table and graphs

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Sea ice concentration is both an indicator and driver of high-latitude climate change with strong societal and ecological importance. It is a key boundary condition for…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean

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Sea ice concentration data from NASA Goddard based on SSMI and NASA Team (NT2) algorithm Sea ice concentration data from NASA Goddard based on SSMI and NASA Team (NT2) algorithm

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The NASA Team 2 (NT2) / SSMI data set of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice concentration is available at daily timesteps and 25km spatial resolution for 1992-2008. NT2, an…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean

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Merged Hadley-NOAA/OI Sea Surface Temperature & Sea-Ice Concentration (Hurrell et al, 2008) Merged Hadley-NOAA/OI Sea Surface Temperature & Sea-Ice Concentration (Hurrell et al, 2008)

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The merged Hadley-OI sea surface temperature (SST) and sea ice concentration (SIC) data sets were specifically developed as surface forcing data sets for AMIP style…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean SST - sea surface temperature

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Sea Ice Concentration data from NASA Goddard and NSIDC based on Bootstrap algorithm Sea Ice Concentration data from NASA Goddard and NSIDC based on Bootstrap algorithm

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Bootstrap sea ice refers to a well-known algorithm used to estimate sea ice concentration from passive microwave brightness temperatures. It can be applied to data from many…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean

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Sea Ice Concentration data from HadISST Sea Ice Concentration data from HadISST

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Spanning 1871-present at monthly timesteps, HadISST provides the longest gridded sea ice data available for both the Arctic and Antarctic. It is a 1° x 1° spatially infilled…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean

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SST data: NOAA High-resolution (0.25x0.25) Blended Analysis of Daily SST and Ice, OISSTv2 SST data: NOAA High-resolution (0.25x0.25) Blended Analysis of Daily SST and Ice, OISSTv2

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"NOAA’s Optimum Interpolation Sea Surface temperature (OISST, also known as Reynolds’ SST) is a series of global analysis products, including the weekly OISST on a 1° grid…

Main variables and Earth System components

Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean SST - sea surface temperature
CERA-20C: ECMWF's Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Reanalysis of the 20th Century CERA-20C: ECMWF's Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Reanalysis of the 20th Century

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The CERA-20C is a global, coupled reanalysis spanning 1901-2010 with a focus on low-frequency climate variability.  Similar to ERA-20C, the surface observations…

Main variables and Earth System components

Atmosphere Multiple variables Cryosphere Sea Ice Concentration Ocean

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