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The NOAA program at NSIDC operates in cooperation with the NOAA National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) to produce data sets relevant for polar and climate research. We manage about 65 data sets, with an emphasis on in situ data, data rescue, and data sets from operational communities. We also help develop educational pages.
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| Figure 1. Muir Glacier seen in Google Earth with the NSIDC KML file. |
More data were made available in geospatial formats. The Glacier Photograph Collection (Figure 1), permafrost maps, global ice and snow extent, and the Sea Ice Index are available in Google Earth KML files; daily snow extent from a NOAA operational product is available in GeoTIFF format (IMS Daily Northern Hemisphere Snow and Ice Analysis at 4 km and 24 km Resolution). Some Sea Ice Index images are now used in the Arctic Research Mapping Application as well.
Two products are especially popular with the general public. The Glacier Photograph Collection’s dramatic “Glacier Pairs” are often in the news. The Sea Ice Index makes it easy for newcomers to polar science to grasp how sea ice is changing. Images were included in the Arctic: A Friend Acting Strangely exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, on display April through November 2006. Images from both products were used in books on climate change that were published in 2006 as well (Fragile Earth: Views of a Changing World, Collins, with contributors), and Field Notes from a Catastrophe, by Elizabeth Kolbert)
Planning for IPY data management with NOAA’s National Data Centers began in 2005 but efforts were reduced in 2006 because of a lack of funding for this activity. One way to make data management less costly in the future is to work toward interoperability now. This means bringing data and metadata into compliance with standard formats so that there is less of a need for special readers for data, and so that data sets are “discoverable” through many different online pathways. In 2006, NOAA@NSIDC metadata records were “translated” from their native Directory Interchange Format (DIF) to Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) compliant records in XML. As a result, our data sets have been “harvested” by external catalogs of data such as Geospatial One Stop.
The Cryospheric Climate Indicators in the Arctic Web site was published. The site presents soil temperature, snow cover, sea ice, and greenness as time series with trends and anomalies. These are displayed with interpretive text and information about processing algorithms and uncertainties. The images characterize, at a glance, some of the changes that are occurring. The site was developed with the intent of updating the series yearly, but funding is not available for the project’s continuation.
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| Figure 2. Climatologies of September median
ice concentration from NIC ice charts. |
Expanded the Glacier Photograph Collection digital subset, and added a Special Collection section for unique collections such as repeat photography of glaciers showing change over time. The project is in its fourth year with the NOAA Climate Database Modernization Program (CDMP). CDMP scans the photographs that are held by the NSIDC/World Data Center for Glaciology archive.
Released National Ice Center Arctic Sea Ice Charts and Climatologies in Gridded Format. We worked with the U.S. National Ice Center (NIC) an interagency NOAA, Navy, and Coast Guard facility, to produce this data set. All products are available in EASE-Grid (binary) format, with GIF browse files (Figure 2). The climatology products are available in GIS compatible format as well. The data cover 1972 through 2004.
Released Monthly Mean Precipitation Sums at Russian Arctic Stations, 1966-1990. Data from 216 Russian stations fill gaps in the historical precipitation record that are needed for applications including reanalysis validation and climate change studies. Documentation includes a section describing the relationship between this data set and other commonly used precipitation data sets: an important addition because the number and variety of sometimes overlapping precipitation data sets often makes it difficult to use them for climate studies.
Extended Submarine Upward Looking Sonar Ice Draft Profile Data and Statistics. Sea ice draft is used to estimate ice thickness, without which ice volume cannot be estimated. Ice thickness cannot be directly measured by satellite, and there are relatively few in situ thickness observations. Recent work by investigators at the University of Washington’s Polar Science Center adds 15 cruises to the existing data collection of draft measurements from submarines. These data were originally recorded on paper rolls (Figure 3). The University of Washington investigators devised a way to scan and digitize the analog data. In all, the data cover almost 122,000 kilometers of cruise tracks. Researchers making use of these data owe a debt of gratitude to the Arctic Submarine Laboratory (ASL), San Diego, California, for their stewardship of the data. ASL holds raw data from all U.S. submarine cruises, beginning with the first cruise under the ice in 1958.
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| Figure 3. An example of analog ice draft measurements that were digitized. |
In 2005, the NOAA team at NSIDC:
Updated Snow Data Assimilation System (SNODAS) Data Products at NSIDC.
In cooperation with the NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center (NOHRSC), NSIDC is providing archive, access and user support for selected SNODAS fields. SNODAS is a modeling and data assimilation system that provides estimates of snow cover and associated variables. The product is unique in terms of its utility for hydrological modeling.
Snowpack runoff provides about 80% of Colorado’s reservoir storage, and can cause spring flooding. Agencies responsible for managing water resources and flooding risks need to know snowpack characteristics:
In Colorado, the Bureau of Reclamation and Colorado Water Conservation Board are intensively assessing SNODAS for hydrological forecasting purposes, because its fields offer advantages over maps from Snow Telemetry (SNOTEL) site data. (Visit Snow Data Assimilation System Colorado Data Plots). The NOHRSC products available from NSIDC are daily gridded data sets for the continental United States at 1 km spatial resolution. In 2005, we added subsetting options through an NSIDC Graphical Interface for Subsetting, Mapping, and Ordering (GISMO) interface, and a Frequently Asked Questions page that includes help for users who wish to import SNODAS fields into GIS environments (Figure 1).
Figure 1. SNODAS fields can be imported into GIS, as illustrated in
this view of SWE in the Gunnison Basin. Figure courtesy of Joe Busto of the
Colorado Water Conservation Board
Updated IMS Daily Northern Hemisphere Snow and Ice Analysis at 4 KM and 24 KM Resolution.
The NOAA Interactive Multisensor Snow and Ice Mapping System (IMS) allows analysts from the Office of Satellite Data Processing and Distribution (OSDPD), Satellite Services Division (SSD), Satellite Analysis Branch (SAB) to produce a daily snow and ice analysis at 4 km and 24 km resolution. In cooperation with OSDPD, NSIDC archives and distributes IMS products and image browse files. In response to requests from users for geospatially referenced products, 4 km data was made available in GeoTIFF format in 2005. Manual analysis of satellite imagery produces the most accurate snow cover product available on a hemisphere wide scale. NSIDC's cryospheric research user community benefits from access to the gridded version of this product, while OSDPD continues to serve its operational users. The IMS products join NWS National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center products as NOAA operational snow products permanently archived at the NSIDC/World Data Center for Glaciology, Boulder.
NSIDC’s agreements with NOAA’s SNODAS and IMS snow product data providers stipulate that NSIDC will focus on meeting the needs of research users of retrospective data, rather than those of operational customers or others in need of near-real-time data
Released AWI Moored ULS Data, Greenland Sea and Fram Strait, 1991-2002
Upward Looking Sonar data provided measurements of sea ice draft that can be used to estimate ice thickness. These data were made available in partnership with the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany, as a contribution to the World Climate Research Programme's Arctic Climate System Study/Climate and Cryosphere (ACSYS/CliC) Project.
Expanded the Glacier Photograph Collection digital subset.
Photographs dating from the 1880s selected from NSIDCs large collection of historical glacier photos are being scanned through a joint NGDC/NSIDC project funded by NOAA's Climate Database Modernization Program. In 2005, the Glacier Photograph Collection was expanded by about 2,000 images, bringing the total available on line to about 3000. Prior to the scanning project only a handful of users saw the delicate prints each year. Now, usage has grown to well over 2000 users each month. This is a joint project with the NSIDC Library.
Released the The Dehn Collection of Arctic Sea Ice Charts, 1953-1986.
Charts are on line as a result of a NOAA Climate Data Modernization Program-supported project to scan approximately 7000 paper ice charts of Alaska, the western Canadian Arctic and Bering Sea covering the years 1953-1986. The collection is uniquely valuable because it predates satellite ice observations, and may shed light on recent summertime retreat of the ice edge north of Alaska. This is a joint project with the NSIDC Library.
Other accomplishments in 2005 included
NOAA@NSIDC activities are supported primarily by NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, National Geophysical Data Center. In 2005, the NOAA team included Florence Fetterer (NOAA Liaison and Program Manager), Lisa Ballagh (Project Manager) and Jonathan Kovarik (Operations).
The Sea Ice Index was developed with NSIDC Lead Programmer Ken Knowles. The Glacier Photograph and Dehn ice chart projects are being carried out in partnership with NSIDC Librarian and Analog Data Archivist Allaina Howard and Database Administrator I-Pin Wang. The Science Communications group at NSIDC assists with Web sites and documentation.
In 2004, the NOAA team at NSIDC:
Released IMS Daily Northern Hemisphere Snow and Ice Analysis at 4 KM and 24 KM Resolution.
The NOAA Interactive Multisensor Snow and Ice Mapping System (IMS) became operational in 1997, allowing analysts from the Office of Satellite Data Processing and Distribution (OSDPD), Satellite Services Division (SSD), Satellite Analysis Branch (SAB) to produce a daily snow and ice analysis at 4 km and 24 km resolution. In cooperation with OSDPD and NGDC, NSIDC archives and distributes IMS products and GIF image browse files. Manual analysis of satellite imagery produces the most accurate snow cover product available on a hemisphere wide scale. NSIDC’s cryospheric research user community benefits from access to the gridded version of this product. NSIDC’s commitment to serving research users of the product frees OSDPD’s SSD to concentrate on meeting the needs of operational users. The IMS products join NWS National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center products as NOAA operational snow products permanently archived at the NSIDC/World Data Center for Glaciology, Boulder.
Released Snow Data Assimilation System (SNODAS) Data Products at NSIDC.
In cooperation with the NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center (NOHRSC), NSIDC is providing archive, access and user support for eight selected SNODAS fields. SNODAS is a modeling and data assimilation system that provides the best possible estimates of snow cover and associated variables to support hydrologic modeling and analysis. The NOHRSC products available from NSIDC are gridded data sets for the continental United States at 1 km spatial resolution and 24 hour temporal resolution. This product is unique in terms of its utility for hydrological modeling.
NSIDC’s agreements with NOAA’s SNODAS and IMS snow product data providers stipulate that NSIDC will focus on meeting the needs of research users of retrospective data, rather than those of operational customers or others in need of near-real-time data.
Extended the Sea Ice Index.
Arctic ice extent in September 2004 reached a low second only to that of September 2002, the lowest extent since reliable records began in the 1950s. [figure] Beginning in 2002, the September ice extent has fallen about two standard deviations below the mean for three consecutive years. These figures are based on the Sea Ice Index time series. The Web site shows trends and anomalies in Arctic and Antarctic sea ice, with explanatory text. It is helpful for researchers seeking to characterize the response of sea ice to climate, and to users with general questions about ice conditions. Considerable work was done in 2004 to extend the data set by 10 years while maintaining a consistent record. The Index now spans a change in passive microwave instrumentation from SMMR (1979-1988) to SSM/I (1988 on). Figures from the Sea Ice Index have been used in numerous research papers and press articles, and were included as a visual aid during a congressional hearing on climate change (see the 16 November 2004 item at http://nsidc.org/news/archives/#2004). The site was designed to make it easy for both the general public and scientists to monitor sea ice trends, and it now receives over 20,000 hits per month. The site appears to be meeting our outreach and education goal for it: only about 6% of users visiting the site coming from an .edu or .gov server, while about 65% come from commercial or other domestic sources.
Distinct users and total requests (hits) for the Sea Ice Index web site,
September 2003 - January 2005
Beginning in 1937 and ending in 1993, the High-Latitude Airborne Expeditions program SEVER collected snow and sea ice data for the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia. A selection of data from these and other expeditions was given to NSIDC by Illya Romanov. These data are a unique contribution to arctic science. Snow measurements were made in the spring and therefore represent annual snow accumulation prior to significant summer melt. Romanov’s assessments of area, thickness and the spatial distribution of snow contribute information useful for evaluating arctic freshwater balance. Sea ice thickness data are valuable additions to the limited and more recent record provided by upward looking sonar.
Maps showing the position of each landing site by decade
Released Daily Precipitation Sums at Coastal and Island Russian Arctic Stations, 1940-1990.
Preparation of this data set was carried our in partnership with investigators at the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI), St. Petersburg, Russia. Precipitation data originally recorded in log books at 65 coastal and island meteorological stations were digitized under the direction of Vladimir Radionov. Long precipitation data records with daily frequency are difficult to obtain, but are necessary for efforts such as reanalysis projects.
Expanded the Glacier Photograph Collection digital subset.
Photographs dating from the 1880s selected from NSIDCs large collection of historical glacier photos are being scanned and made available through a web-searchable interface through a joint NGDC/NSIDC project funded by NOAA’s Climate Database Modernization Program. In cooperation with NGDC, the collection can also be accessed through the World Glacier Map Viewer. More than 1300 photos are now on line, and in 2004 an additional 2000 were scanned. Prior to the scanning project only a handful of users saw the delicate prints each year. Now, usage has grown to well over 1000 users each month [figure]. Many of the photographs are beautiful, but more importantly, their record of glacier fluctuations over the years can be used to study climate change. A poster presentation on the collection was made at the Fall AGU meeting. This is a joint project with the NSIDC Library.
McBride Glacier, AK, photographed in 1950 by Wm. O. Field
Growth in the number of users accessing the Glacier Photograph Collection
each month.
Updated Airborne Surface Profiling of Alaskan Glaciers.
These data, contributed by researchers at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, are part of a data set that documents recent changes in Alaskan glaciers (see Arendt et al., 2002. Rapid Wastage of Alaska Glaciers and their Contribution to Rising Sea Level. Science, 297:382-386). Data for an additional 26 glaciers were added, doubling the number in the data set.
Updated Former Soviet Union Hydrological Snow Surveys, 1966-1996. Extended the record by five years for 426 of over 1300 sites. Updated Great Lakes Surface Ice Reports from U.S. Coast Guard
Began a CDMP-supported project to scan the William H. Dehn collection of approximately 7000 paper ice charts of Alaska, the western Canadian Arctic and Bering Sea covering the years 1953-1986. The collection is uniquely valuable because it predates satellite ice observations, and may shed light on recent summertime retreat of the ice edge north of Alaska. This is a joint project with the NSIDC Library.
Significantly revised documentation, made corrections to data, or added data to the following data sets: Submarine Upward Looking Sonar Ice Draft Profile Data and Statistics , Arctic and Southern Ocean Sea Ice Concentrations , West Greenland Glacier Inventory , Environmental Working Group Joint U.S.-Russian Arctic Sea Ice Atlas , Central Asian Snow Cover from Hydrometeorological Surveys and Great Lakes Ice Charts . AIDJEX Wind, Current, and Camp Position Data and Southern Hemisphere Ice Limits, 1973-1978 were added to the NOAA@NSIDC catalog.
The NOAA team also maintained web sites for the International Ice Charting Working Group (IICWG) and the WMO Global Digital Sea Ice Data Bank at NSIDC, and developed a page on Moored Upward Looking Sonar Data for the World Climate Research Programme’s Arctic Climate System Study/Climate and Cryosphere (ACSYS/CliC) programs. Our participation in these groups helps preserve ice chart data for use by researchers, and encourages the contribution of data to NSIDC's public archive. The IICWG Ad Hoc Format Working Group’s efforts have lead to a new archive format, "SIGRID-3: A Vector Archive Format for Sea Ice Charts. - JCOMM Technical Report Series No. 23, 2004, WMO/TD-No. 1214." See the GDSIDB for more information.
NOAA@NSIDC activities are supported primarily by NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service. Florence Fetterer is NSIDC’s NOAA Liaison and project lead. In 2004, the NOAA team included Alejandro Machado for programmer and User Services support and Lisa Ballagh for operations support, with Alex departing in September and Lisa taking on User Services and other support functions. Keri Webster provided technical writer support, and Jonathan Kovarik joined the team in September for operations.
The Sea Ice Index was developed with NSIDC Lead Programmer Ken Knowles. The Glacier Photograph and Dehn ice chart projects are being carried out in partnership with NSIDC Librarian and Analog Data Archivist Allaina Howard and Database Administrator I-Pin Wang.
In 2002 and 2003, the NOAA team at NSIDC:
These and other NOAA data products at NSIDC are available through NOAA National Data Center data servers, as well as from NSIDC.
The NOAA team also maintained a web site for the International Ice Charting Working Group, and developed a web site for the WMO Global Digital Sea Ice Data Bank at NSIDC. Our participation in these groups helps preserve ice chart data for use by researchers, and encourages its conversion from paper or graphical form to digital form.
Major progress was made on reviewing and updating the archive status of all NOAA@NSIDC data sets, in cooperation with NGDC's Mai Edwards. We will complete this work in 2004.
The World Data Center (WDC) for Glaciology, Boulder , is home for many of our international activities (see "International Activities" section), and has its own data catalog. Most WDC activities are supported by and overlap those of the NOAA@NSIDC team. An exception is the Frozen Ground Data Center , which is being developed with funding from NSF and in collaboration with the International Arctic Research Center (IARC) in Fairbanks , AK (see FGDC).
NOAA@NSIDC activities are supported primarily by NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service. Florence Fetterer is NSIDC's NOAA Liaison and project lead. In 2002 and 2003, the NOAA team included Alejandro Machado for programmer and User Services support, Lisa Ballagh for operations support, and Lyne Yohe for technical writer support (with Keri Webster taking over in September 2002). Ken Knowles helped develop the Sea Ice Index, and Teresa Mullins led the Glacier Photograph Collection project, with NGDC's Mai Edwards.
The NOAA project at NSIDC operates in cooperation with the NOAA National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) to extend the NOAA National Data Center's catalogue of cryospheric data and information products. We manage about 60 data sets, with an emphasis on in situ data, data rescue, and data sets from operational communities. We also help develop educational pages, and contribute to larger projects of relevance to NOAA. In 2001, the NOAA team at NSIDC.
These and other NOAA data products at NSIDC are also available through the NOAA/National Virtual Data System (NVDS) and NOAAServer.
The World Data Center (WDC) for Glaciology, Boulder, is home for many of NSIDC's international activities and has its own data catalog. With funding from NSF and in collaboration with the International Arctic Research Center (IARC) in Fairbanks, AK, the WDC is developing a new Frozen Ground Data Center. This year, with NGDC, we proposed new data acquisition activities for historical data sets from Russia and China, and for glacier photograph digitization. NOAA also helps support the Information Center/Library (see "Information Center/Library" section). The Library acquires analog and digital materials on snow, ice, and permafrost, and houses over 45,000 monographs, serials, journal articles, reprints, videos, and CD-ROMs. In 2001, 1246 new items were added. Library staff filled over 600 information requests from University of Colorado researchers and the general public during 2001, relating to glaciers, ice thickness, snow crystal formation, permafrost, climate change, ice and snow terminology, and a variety of other topics.
"NOAA@NSIDC" web site established: A new web site at NSIDC promotes NOAA-supported data sets, and describes NSIDC's relationship to the NOAA family of data centers.
EWG Atlases used in Naval Academy Course: The Environmental Working Group (EWG) Arctic Meteorology and Climate Atlas and the EWG Ocean Atlases were used in a course on Polar Oceanography and Meteorology at the United States Naval Academy.
Hydrological forecasting in Central Asia: NSIDC hosted an information sharing session for visitors from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgystan, and Kazahkstan on 19 October 2000. The representatives of hydrometeorological institutes are participating in a U.S. Agency for International Development and NOAA National Weather Service technology transfer project to strengthen snow-pack monitoring, river forecasting, and water management techniques in Central Asia. NSIDC and NOAA Environmental Technology Laboratory scientists briefed the delegation on snow mapping and runoff modeling as it is being implemented in a NASA-sponsored Southwest Regional Earth Science Applications Center project. The visit was arranged by NOAA's International and Interagency Affairs Office and NSIDC's NOAA Liaison.
International operational ice charting meeting: The International Ice Charting Working Group (IICWG) meet in Reykjavik to discuss operational sea ice charting concerns. NSIDC's NOAA Liaison, Florence Fetterer, led a discussion on formats for archiving ice chart data. Fetterer also briefed the group on the new International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean. NSIDC maintains a Web site for IICWG.
EWG Arctic Meteorology and Climate Atlas wins award: The Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication bestowed an Award of Merit in the reference material category to the The Arctic Climatology Project: Arctic Meteorology and Climate Atlas The atlas is one of the Environmental Working Group Arctic Atlases on CD-ROM.
Estonian Mean Snow Depth and Duration, 1891-1994: This data set adds significantly to the available snow data record for eastern Europe. The data set was published by NSIDC.
Global Lake and River Ice Database, 1846-1995: This data collection, prepared by the Center for Limnology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and distributed by NSIDC, contains an approximately 150-year record of ice freezing and thaw dates for northern hemisphere lakes and rivers including the Great Lakes. It consists of more than 689 time series and provides evidence that lakes and rivers around the world are freezing an average of nearly nine days later in the winter and thawing almost 10 days earlier in the spring than they did 100 years ago. The analysis (which was published in Science Magazine) sparked considerable press interest in the data set: reports were heard on NPR, and appeared in CNN online news, The Washington Post, The New York Times, the Associated Press, the Rocky Mountain News, and elsewhere.
Data from four new cruises were added to Submarine Upward Looking Sonar Ice Draft Profile Data and Statistics. This is the most comprehensive data set available of measurements from which sea ice thickness can be inferred.
Arctic meteorology primer on-line: NSIDC's Arctic Climatology and Meteorology Primer (http://nsidc.org) provides students and casual browsers with educational material on arctic weather and the factors that determine weather and climate. It joins other educational theme pages including State of the Cryosphere and All About Glaciers.
