NSIDC Glacier Photo Database

Want to see a photo of your favorite glacier? If NSIDC has an archived photo of it, the links to view or download it will be floating above the glacier. You can also search by glacier name, be flown there in 3D, and then view photo. More info.

UAF's Glacier Laser Altimetry Database

Want to learn more about glacier melt and shrinkage? Since 1992, Keith Echelmeyer's team at the University of Alaska Fairbanks has been flying over glaciers using a small aircraft with a laser altimeter to determine their surface elevations. This file contains many of their flight lines, displays the elevation data, and links to the raw data which is archived at NSIDC. More info.

Alaska Glacier Names

Need to the know the name of your favorite glacier? This application has the USGS entire database of named glaciers within the US. More info.

NSIDC World Glacier Inventory

Does your favorite glacier not have a name or is it located outside the US? This application contains the World Glacier Inventory's ID number and name (if named) for nearly every glacier in the world. Each ID tag is linked to the NSIDC's database to provide you with the basic characteristics of each glacier and is a good starting point to learn if any research has been conducted there. The inventory is split into geographic regions to speed up download; the complete inventory takes quite a long time to load into TerraExplorer because there are over 10,000 glaciers to identify. More Info.

McCall Glacier, Alaska

Want to learn more about the dynamics of an Arctic glacier? This application is actively used by scientists studying the long-term evolution of this glacier, which has been studied since 1957. It contains positions of equipment installed in the past 3 years, including survey stakes, weather stations, and photo sites. More Info.

Author: Peter Prokein, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Software: Google Earth.

Alaska Paleo-glacier Atlas

Wondering how big your favorite glacier used to be? This application overlays outlines of the maximum extents of glaciers during the last ice age as well as the past few million years. More info.

IPY Expression of Intent Database

Want to know who is planning to do what for the International Polar Year (2007-2008)? This application contains all of the more than 800 international Expressions of Intent for work in IPY, arranged by country. Each project is linked to the proposal itself at the international IPY web site. More info.

Alaska Weather Stations

Want to know the current temperature or wind speeds in Alaska? Here you will find links to weather stations throughout the state.

Alaska Annual Climate

Want to know mean annual temperatures or annual precipitation throughout the state? Here you will find PRISM model output for the state of Alaska. More info.

Annual precipitation
Author: Bill Manley, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Resear
Software: TerraExplorer.

Current Global Cloud Cover

Want to know where the next hurricane will hit land? Here you will find a global cloud cover mosaic updated every 6 hours. You can set the opacity of the cloud cover to see the relationship to topography. More info.

Alaska Weather Radar

Want to know what's happening with Alaska weather? Here you will find most of Alaska's weather radar data updated every few hours. More info.

Circum-Arctic Vegetation Map (CAVM)

Want to know what type of vegetation grows throughout the Arctic and why? These applications show how the vegetation distribution depends on the soils, the climate zones, and the topography. There are also examples of custom viewing applications. None of them are complete, they are just for demonstration purposes at this time. More info.

Toolik Lake, Alaska

Want to know more about the research happening at the United States' premier Arctic field station? Part of the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites across the country, Toolik Lake is a hotbed of arctic ecology research. More info.

Veco Polar Resources Project Database

Want to know which scientists are working on which projects where in the Arctic? You'll find that information here, along with detailed descriptions of the projects, field work dates, and links to more information. Updated regularly. More info.

Alaska Natural Places

What to know the name of your favorite mountain, stream or natural feature in Alaska? If it's got a name registered with the United States Geological Survey, you'll find it here. Because there are so many named features, this one takes a long time to load. More info.

Antarctic Place Names

Want to know the name of your favorite feature in Antarctica? You'll find it here. Because there are so many names, the application is broken into two parts based on alphabetical order. More info.

Blue Marble Next Generation via Skyline

Want to see how the planet changes with the seasons? Here you will find cloud-free mosaics for every month of the year, showing changes in snow cover and plant life over time. More info.

Blue Marble Next Generation via GeoFusion

Want to fade back and forth between the months while in 3D? Here you will find cloud-free mosaics for every month of the year, showing changes in snow cover and plant life over time. More info.

SERVIR

What to know what's happening in Central America? This application is part of NASA's "One Stop Shop" for Regional Data, Dynamic Maps, Decision Support, and Interactive Visualizations for Central America. More info.

Hurricane Katrina

What to learn more about the damage Hurricane Katrina caused? These applications range from vector files showing where the damage was done to imagery overlays visually showing the extent of flooding.

Storm Tracking Tools

What to know where the next big one is going to hit? Here are a variety of awesome tools for tracking storms using Google Earth. More info.

Recent Earthquakes
Want to know what's shakin' around the planet? Here you will find the locations of earthquakes from the past week updated daily. More info.

Mars

What to know where the Mars rovers landed or crashed? Check out the Red Planet here in 3D.

Lake El'gytgyn, Siberia

Want to know the locations of instrumentation and measurements at the site of the terrestrial Arctic's oldest continuous paleoclimate coring site? This application is used actively by scientists working at this fascinating lake, which lies inside of an impact crater. More info.

Icebreaker Healy Ship Tracks

What to know where the US Coast Guard's Healy Icebreaker was in 2004? Check out the ship's tracks here, along with time stamps, measurement locations, and measured bathymetry.

Kuparuk River, Alaska

Want to check out the topography of one of the most intensively studied watersheds in Arctic Alaska? This high resolution dataset will allow you to see the transition from the mountains of the Brooks Range to the foothills, in the upper reaches of this watershed. More info.

Putuligayuk River, Alaska

Adjacent to the Kuparuk River, this watershed is much flatter and located primarily within the coastal plain. Because it is so flat, it is shown here at 5x vertical exageration and color-coded with topography. More info.

Prudhoe Bay, Alaska

A neat example of the power of high-resolution digital elevation model, detailing part of the Kuparuk River floodplain near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. The relief here is less than 25 m. More Info.

Differential SAR Interferometry Measurement of Soil Moisture

Want to know how wet the ground is? So do a lot of other people. This application demonstrates the power of a new technique we're working on to measure soil moisture from space. Here color represent whether the ground has gotten wetter or drier in the course of a month, with reds drier and blues wetter. The field site is in southern Colorado. More info.

Iditarod 2005

Want to know the location of dog mushers as they race across the State of Alaska? This application was used to track their locations in near-real-time during the 2005 Iditarod. Learn how topography influence both the route and the mushers' progress along it. Check back in Spring 2006 for coverage of the next race. More info.