Earth Data School
About
Full catalog/NSIDC-0782
NSIDC-0782·v1·dataset

How fast Antarctica's grounded ice is thinning

MEaSUREs ITS_LIVE Antarctic Grounded Ice Sheet Elevation Change V001
cryosphere NASA NSIDC_CPRD Level 3 netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. Monthly maps of how much the surface height of Antarctica's grounded ice sheet has risen or fallen, with error estimates and quality flags, spanning 1985 to 2020.

How it's made. Combines decades of height measurements from five radar and two laser altimetry satellite missions, knitted together with a digital elevation model of the terrain.

How & where you'd use it. Lets scientists see where Antarctic ice is thickening or thinning and track changes in the ice sheet's mass over time, a key signal of how the continent contributes to sea-level rise.

What's measured

CRYOSPHERE › GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS › GLACIER ELEVATION/ICE SHEET ELEVATION

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span1985-04-17 → 2020-12-16
  • Measured byCRYOSAT-2 (SIRAL) · ENVISAT (RA-2) · ERS-1 (RA) · ERS-2 (RA) · GEOSAT (RADAR ALTIMETERS) · ICESat (GLAS) · ICESat-2 (ATLAS)
  • Processing levelLevel 3
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, -60
  • FormatsnetCDF-4
  • StatusCOMPLETE

What you can do with it

  • Measure sea ice, snow cover and glaciers
  • Watch ice-sheet elevation change
  • Track freeze/thaw and permafrost
Official description

This data product contains monthly ice sheet elevation change data for Antarctica derived from five radar altimetry missions (Geosat, ERS-1 and -2, Envisat and CryoSat-2) and two laser altimetry missions (ICESat and ICESat-2). Each time step and grid node includes relative error estimates and a quality flag that can be used to filter the data in space and time. The product is also provided with an estimate of static topography in the form of a digital elevation model (DEM), which was used to estimate monthly ice sheet elevation change. With a temporal coverage of 17 April 1985 to 16 December 2020, this product can be used to determine changes in ice sheet mass balance over time.

Get the data

nsidc-0782_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="NSIDC-0782",
    version="1",
    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.