Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

Abstracts: 15

Cryospheric Data for Research and Monitoring

Florence Fetterer and the NSIDC Staff

The National Snow and Ice Data Center/World Data Center for Glaciology, Boulder (NSIDC/WDC) was established by NOAA as a national information and referral center in support of polar and cryospheric research. Scientific stewardship is central to this role: NSIDC maximizes the value of data for science by developing, documenting, preserving, and widely distributing digital and analog data sets; by conducting research; and through participation in national and international science planning and observation network coordination efforts. NSIDC is engaged in activities designed to improve our understanding of recent changes in the cryosphere. These changes include reductions in snow cover and glacier area, thawing permafrost, disintegration of Antarctic peninsula ice shelves, decline in sea ice extent and changes in the distribution of ice thickness. NSIDC's data products from operational satellites such as ice extent and albedo from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program and NOAA polar orbiters help quantify these changes. Station data sets of long-term observations, such as snow depth and river freeze/break up dates from the former Soviet Union, put changes in a historical context. New products from instruments on-board NASA Earth Observing System satellites, such as snow cover from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, will allow NSIDC and other investigators to monitor snow and ice with improved resolution, frequency, and accuracy.