National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)

The National Snow and Ice Data Center, NSIDC, is the US data center for the cryosphere, based at the University of Colorado Boulder and operating a NASA DAAC for snow and ice data. It produces the long-running passive-microwave sea-ice concentration and extent records from the SMMR, SSM/I, and SSMIS sensors back to 1978, the standard series for tracking Arctic and Antarctic sea-ice change. NSIDC archives ICESat-2 and other ice-sheet, glacier, snow, and frozen-ground products, and issues monthly Arctic Sea Ice News analyses. Its concentration and extent fields are the reference for polar route planning and ice-edge monitoring.