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Full catalog/IS2SITMOGR4
IS2SITMOGR4·v4·dataset

How thick sea ice is, monthly map (ICESat-2)

ICESat-2 L4 Monthly Gridded Sea Ice Thickness V004
atmosphere NASA NSIDC_CPRD Level 4 netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. Maps how thick Arctic sea ice is each winter month, along with related figures like ice freeboard, snow depth, and ice and snow density.

How it's made. Derived from ICESat-2's laser measurements of ice surface height, combined with model inputs and packed onto a monthly grid.

How & where you'd use it. Helps scientists watch how Arctic sea ice is changing over the winter season, important for climate and polar research.

What's measured

CLIMATE INDICATORS › CRYOSPHERIC INDICATORS › ICE DEPTH/THICKNESSCRYOSPHERE › SEA ICE › SNOW DEPTH

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2018-11-01 → 2025-04-30
  • Measured byICESat-2 (ATLAS) · MODELS (NOT APPLICABLE)
  • Processing levelLevel 4
  • Spatial extent-180, 30, 180, 88
  • FormatsnetCDF-4
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

  • Map air pollutants — NO₂, aerosols, ozone
  • Track greenhouse gases and Earth's energy budget
  • Feed weather and air-quality analysis
Official description

This data set provides monthly, gridded, winter Arctic sea ice thickness, freeboard, ice density, snow depth, and snow density estimates derived from ICESat-2 L4 Along-Track Sea Ice Thickness (IS2SITDAT4).

Get the data

is2sitmogr4_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="IS2SITMOGR4",
    version="4",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from NSIDC_CPRD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.