The sun emerges after heavy snow hit Mount Vernon, Iowa. — Credit: Rich Herrmann/Flickr Snow on the ground. The character of the snow surface after a snowfall depends on the original form of the crystals and on the weather conditions present when the snow fell.

Open access data to inform researchers, policymakers, and othersNSIDC’s data management programs focus on preserving and providing access to cryospheric data and related geophysical data.

Ice sheets are masses of glacial land ice extending more than 50,000 square kilometers (20,000 square miles). There are only two ice sheets worldwide today, the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets.

This bustling harbor in Ilulissat, Greenland, is filled with various kinds of water vessels. Summers in Greenland turn Greenland green. — Credit: Twila Moon, NSIDC Weather is the day-to-day state of the atmosphere, and its short-term variation in minutes to weeks.

A meandering melt stream feeds the supraglacial lake in Greenland, eroding a channel on the ice sheet. — Credit: Ian Joughin/Imaggeo Together, the Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheets contain more than 99 percent of the fresh water ice on Earth.

Oct 3, 2024 · Figure 2. The graph above shows Antarctic sea ice extent as of September 19, 2024, along with daily ice extent data for four previous years and the record-high maximum year. 2024 is shown in blue, 2023 in green (record-low maximum), 2022 in orange, 2021 in brown, 2020 in magenta, and 2014 in dashed brown.

Jun 5, 2024 · Snow-covered area in May 2024 across the western United States was 56 percent above average (Table 1), at 156,000 square kilometers (60,000 square miles) of snow cover, ranking third highest in the 24-year satellite record.

A little girl devours snow. — Credit: Brett/stock.adobe.com The fresher the snow, the less contaminated it can be with things like algae, bacteria, and pollution. However, as pollution also persists in the atmosphere, all snow captures these while forming.

What are ice caps and icefields? An ice cap is a type of glacier, covering less than 50,000 square kilometers (20,000 square miles). Like ice sheets, ice caps tend to spread out in dome-like shapes as opposed to flowing down slopes.

To get started, select Western United States. Check out the Snow Viewer Guide to see current known data issues and to learn how the the Snow Viewer works. We also plan to add more regions and variables over the coming weeks. For data access, visit the About page for instructions on how to download individual data files.. This viewer works best on a desktop monitor; using the viewer on a ...