News & Stories
Across the globe, snow and ice play a vital role in regulating Earth’s climate and providing freshwater resources to people, plants, and animals.
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.
News and stories
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Spotlight
The Silalirijiit Project was an innovative effort to engage community members and stakeholders to better monitor and understand the weather of Baffin Island’s Clyde River region. It combined state-of-the-art weather-monitoring technology with local Inuit knowledge. The project was initiated by Shari Fox, then affiliated with NSIDC. The project began in 2009 and NSIDC’s involvement concluded in 2023. Funding came from multiple sources, predominantly the National Science Foundation, as well as Clyde River community members.
Snow Analysis
March started out dry in the western United States, but made significant gains in winter storms toward the end of the month, finishing tenth in snow-covered area over the 24-year-satellite record. Snow-covered area reached a maximum on January 17, 2024, spot on with the average over the data record.
Spotlight
Ann Windnagel is a project manager at NSIDC. Her contributions span data set development, interactive applications, and research related to glaciers, sea ice, and snow. In this Q&A, she describes the many hats she has worn over the years, her biggest challenges, and her biggest rewards.
News Release
Arctic sea ice has likely reached its maximum extent for the year, at 15.01 million square kilometers (5.80 million square miles) on March 14, according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado Boulder. The 2024 maximum is the fourteenth lowest in the 46-year satellite record.
Feature Story
The Arctic Rain on Snow Study (AROSS) project, led by the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), funded an award-winning StoryMap called "When Rains Fell in Winter," which tells the story of a Nenets reindeer herder named Tokcha Khudi and how a catastrophic rain-on-snow event impacted his annual migration on the Yamal Peninsula in 2013.
News Release
Antarctic sea ice has likely reached its minimum extent for the year, at 1.99 million square kilometers (768,000 square miles) on February 20, 2024, according to scientists at NSIDC.