Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

This site is currently in beta, and your feedback is helping shape its ongoing development.

NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) of Northern Hemisphere (NH) Snow Cover Extent (SCE), Version 1

Published by National Centers for Environmental Information | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Metadata Last Checked: February 10, 2026 | Last Modified: 2012-01-01T00:00:00.000+00:00
This NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) is a record for the Northern Hemisphere (NH) Snow Cover Extent (SCE) spanning from October 4, 1966 to present, updated monthly after the 10th of each month. Data prior to June 1999 in the NH SCE CDR are based on satellite-derived maps of NH SCE produced weekly by trained NOAA meteorologists. In June 1999 weekly NOAA NH SCE maps ceased production, and were replaced by daily SCE output from the Interactive Multisensor Snow and Ice Mapping System (IMS). The weekly SCE maps are digitized to an 88x88 (cells) Cartesian grid laid over a NH polar stereographic projection. Each grid cell in the NH SCE CDR has a binary value, indicating snow covered or snow free. The NH SCE CDR has been used in international assessments of climate variability and change, and in investigations regarding the role of snow cover in the climate system. Mapping accuracy is such that this product is considered suitable for continental-scale climate studies. The data are updated monthly in netCDF file format with variables including SCE and National Meteorological Center (NMC) grid (88x88 cell) coordinates.

Find Related Datasets

Click any tag below to search for similar datasets

Earth Science > Cryosphere > Snow/Ice > Snow Cover Earth Science > Terrestrial > Snow/Ice > Snow Cover NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) Program Satellite ESSA > Environmental Science Services administration NOAA-2 > National Oceanic & atmospheric Administration-2 NOAA-3 > National Oceanic & atmospheric Administration-3 NOAA-4 > National Oceanic & atmospheric Administration-4 NOAA-5 > National Oceanic & atmospheric Administration-5 NOAA-6 > National Oceanic & atmospheric Administration-6 NOAA-7 > National Oceanic & atmospheric Administration-7 NOAA-9 > National Oceanic & atmospheric Administration-9 NOAA-11 > National Oceanic & atmospheric Administration-11 NOAA-14 > National Oceanic & atmospheric Administration-14 NOAA-15 > National Oceanic & atmospheric Administration-15 SMS > Synchronous Meteorological satellites DMSP > Defense Meteorological Satellite program GOES > NOAA Geostationary Operational environmental Satellites GOES-7 > Geostationary Operational environmental Satellite 7 GOES-8 > Geostationary Operational environmental Satellite 8 GOES-9 > Geostationary Operational environmental Satellite 9 TIROS-N > Television Infrared Observation satellite-N GMS > Japan Geostationary Meteorological satellite GMS-4 > Geostationary Meteorological satellite-4 GMS-5 > Geostationary Meteorological satellite-5 METEOSAT METEOSAT-5 > METEOSAT Operational programme 2 (MOP-1) METEOSAT-6 > METEOSAT Operational programme 3 (MOP-1) Terra > Earth Observing System, Terra (AM-1) METOP > Meteorological Operational satellite Aqua > Earth Observing System, Aqua Video Camera VAS > VISSR Atmospheric Sounder SSMI/S > Special Sensor Microwave imager/Sounder VHRR > Very High Resolution Radiometer VISSR > Visible And Infrared Spin Scan radiometer AVHRR > Advanced Very High Resolution radiometer SEVIRI > Spinning Enhanced Visible And infrared Imager MODIS > Moderate-Resolution Imaging spectroradiometer AMSR > Advanced Microwave Scanning radiometer AMSU-B > Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit b (AMSU-B) ASCAT MVIRI > METEOSAT Visible And Infra-red imager Geographic Region > Northern Hemisphere Vertical Location > Land Surface NOAA OneStop Project DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCDC > National Climatic Data Center, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce RUTGERS/CLIMATE/GSL > Global Snow Lab, Climate Lab, Rutgers University

data.gov

An official website of the GSA's Technology Transformation Services

Looking for U.S. government information and services?
Visit USA.gov