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Sea Ice Data Access and Tools

NASA has sea ice datasets that help researchers characterize the presence and extent of ice in the ocean. Access a range of data and data tools such as AppEEARS, Worldview, and Giovanni to make the most of sea ice data.

Sea Ice Datasets

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Dataset Sort descending	Version	Platform	Instrument	Temporal Extent	Spatial Extent	Spatial Resolution	Data Format
MODIS/Terra Sea Ice Extent Daily L3 Global 1km EASE-Grid Day V004	4	Terra	MODIS	2000-02-24 to 2006-12-31	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	1 Kilometers x 1 Kilometers	HDF-EOS2
MODIS/Terra Sea Ice Extent Daily L3 Global 1km EASE-Grid Day V005	5	Terra	MODIS	2000-02-24 to 2017-01-02	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	1 Kilometers x 1 Kilometers	GeoTIFF, HDF-EOS2
MODIS/Terra Sea Ice Extent Daily L3 Global 1km EASE-Grid Day V006	6	Terra	MODIS	2000-02-24 to 2023-02-17	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	1 Kilometers x 1 Kilometers	XML, JPEG, HDF-EOS2
MODIS/Terra Sea Ice Extent Daily L3 Global 1km EASE-Grid Day V061	61	Terra	MODIS	2000-02-24 to Present	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	1 Kilometers x 1 Kilometers	HDF-EOS2
MODIS/Terra Sea Ice Extent Daily L3 Global 1km EASE-Grid Night V004	4	Terra	MODIS	2000-02-24 to 2006-12-31	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	1 Kilometers x 1 Kilometers	HDF-EOS2
MODIS/Terra Sea Ice Extent Daily L3 Global 1km EASE-Grid Night V005	5	Terra	MODIS	2000-02-24 to 2017-01-03	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	1 Kilometers x 1 Kilometers	GeoTIFF, HDF-EOS2
MODIS/Terra Sea Ice Extent Daily L3 Global 1km EASE-Grid Night V006	6	Terra	MODIS	2000-02-24 to 2023-02-17	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	1 Kilometers x 1 Kilometers	XML, JPEG, HDF-EOS2
MODIS/Terra Sea Ice Extent Daily L3 Global 1km EASE-Grid Night V061	61	Terra	MODIS	2000-02-24 to Present	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	1 Kilometers x 1 Kilometers	HDF-EOS2
Near-Real-Time AMSR2 EASE-Grid Daily Global Ice Concentration and Snow Extent V001	1	GCOM-W1	AMSR2	2024-01-01 to Present	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	25 Kilometers x 25 Kilometers	HDF-EOS4, HDF-EOS2
Near-Real-Time DMSP SSMIS Daily Polar Gridded Sea Ice Concentrations V001	1	DMSP 5D-3/F17, DMSP 5D-3/F18	SSMIS	2015-01-01 to 2023-01-02	N: -39.23 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180 , N: 90 S: 30.98 E: 180 W: -180	25 Kilometers x 25 Kilometers	PNG, Binary
Near-Real-Time DMSP SSMIS Daily Polar Gridded Sea Ice Concentrations V002	2	DMSP 5D-3/F16, DMSP 5D-3/F17, DMSP 5D-3/F18	SSMIS	2024-01-01 to 2026-01-14	N: 90 S: 30.98 E: 180 W: -180 , N: -39.23 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	25 Kilometers x 25 Kilometers	PNG, netCDF-4
Near-Real-Time SSM/I EASE-Grid Daily Global Ice Concentration and Snow Extent V002	2	DMSP 5D-2/F13	SSM/I	1995-05-04 to 2009-09-11	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	25 Kilometers x 25 Kilometers	HDF-EOS2
Near-Real-Time SSM/I-SSMIS EASE-Grid Daily Global Ice Concentration and Snow Extent V003	3	DMSP 5D-3/F16	SSMIS	2012-01-01 to 2026-01-16	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	25 Kilometers x 25 Kilometers	HDF-EOS2
Near-Real-Time SSM/I-SSMIS EASE-Grid Daily Global Ice Concentration and Snow Extent V004	4	DMSP 5D-3/F17	SSMIS	2009-08-17 to 2026-01-16	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	25 Kilometers x 25 Kilometers	HDF-EOS2
Near-Real-Time SSM/I-SSMIS EASE-Grid Daily Global Ice Concentration and Snow Extent V005	5	DMSP 5D-3/F18	SSMIS	2016-12-01 to 2026-01-16	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	25 Kilometers x 25 Kilometers	HDF-EOS2
Nimbus Ice Edge Points from Nimbus Visible Imagery L2, CSV V001	1	Nimbus-1, Nimbus-2, Nimbus-3	AVCS Nimbus-1, CAMERAS, AVCS Nimbus-2, IDCS Nimbus-3	1966-05-15 to 1966-09-02	N: -50 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180 , N: 90 S: 50 E: 180 W: -180	5 Kilometers x 5 Kilometers	ASCII
NISAR Beta Range Doppler Unwrapped Interferogram Product (Version 1)	1	NISAR	L-SAR, S-SAR	2025-10-01 to Present	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180		HDF5, XML, YAML, PNG, KML, CSV, PDF
NRT AMSR2 Unified L3 Daily 12.5 km Brightness Temperature & Sea Ice Concentration V4	4	GCOM-W1	AMSR2	2020-06-29	N: 89 S: -89 E: 180 W: -180		HDF-EOS5
NRT AMSR2 Unified L3 Daily 25 km Brightness Temperature & Sea Ice Concentration Polar Grids V4	4	GCOM-W1	AMSR2	2020-06-29	N: 89 S: -89 E: 180 W: -180		HDF-EOS5
NRT AMSR2 Unified L3 Daily 6.25 km Polar Gridded 89 GHz Brightness Temperatures V4	4	GCOM-W1	AMSR2	2020-06-29	N: 89 S: -89 E: 180 W: -180		HDF-EOS5
NSCAT Gridded Level 3 Enhanced Resolution Sigma-0 from BYU	1	ADEOS-I	NSCAT	1996-09-15 to 1997-06-29	N: 89 S: -89 E: 180 W: -180	0.04 Decimal Degrees x 0.04 Decimal Degrees	RAW
NSCAT High-Resolution MGDR, Sigma-0 and Ocean Wind Vectors (Dunbar)	2	ADEOS-I	NSCAT	1996-09-15 to 1997-06-29	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	25000 Meters x 25000 Meters	RAW
NSCAT Level 1.7 SDR, Sigma-0 Cells	2	ADEOS-I	NSCAT	1996-09-15 to 1997-06-29	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	50000 Meters x 50000 Meters	HDF
Primary Ancillary Data Geo-Colocated to OMI/Aura UV2 1-Orbit L2 Swath 13x24km V4 (OMUANC) at GES DISC	004	Aura, GEOS-5	OMI, NOT APPLICABLE	2004-10-01 to Present	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	24 Kilometers x 13 Kilometers
Primary Ancillary Data Geo-Colocated to OMI/Aura VIS 1-Orbit L2 Swath 13x24km V4 (OMVANC) at GES DISC	004	Aura, GEOS-5	OMI, NOT APPLICABLE	2004-10-01 to Present	N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180	24 Kilometers x 13 Kilometers

Featured Sea Ice Observation Method: ICESat-2

NASA's Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) carries a laser altimeter scientists use to measure the elevation of ice sheets, glaciers, sea ice, and more in unprecedented, 3-D detail. The satellite also measures heights across Earth's temperate and tropical regions, and takes stock of the vegetation in forests worldwide.

Earthdata graphic identifier on top of image of Earth

ICESat-2 Data Usher in a New Age of Exploration

Data from NASA’s ICESat-2 mission provide incredibly accurate measurements of Earth elevation change—and much more.

8 MIN READ

six vertical bands showing various satellite images

New Low Latency ICESat-2 Datasets

The five new datasets are the result of a joint effort by NASA’s Satellite Needs Working Group Management Office (SNWG MO), ICESat-2 team, and Land, Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EOS (LANCE).

3 MIN READ

This true-color image of Kiriwina Island in in Papua New Guinea shows the 55 tracks of ATL24 bathymetry data.

New Global ICESat-2 Bathymetric Data Fills Near-Shore Data Voids

ATL24, a new space-based lidar product, provides bathymetry data that can be used to characterize nearshore habitats and create safer maritime transportation channels.

Location of NASA ICESat-2 (ATL13) data (Inland Water Product) from April 25, 2023 over Lake Powell, Utah, United States, viewed in OpenAltimetry.

Laser Altimetry Applications for a Changing World: Explore ICESat-2 Data

This is the first in a five-part webinar series to introduce NASA's Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation-2 (ICESat-2) platform and the platform's data, tools, and applications.

Sea Ice Data Tools

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Items

Tool Sort descending	Description	Services
OpenAltimetry	OpenAltimetry is a map-based visualization tool for exploring surface elevation data across Earth over time.	Analysis, Search and Discovery, Visualization

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