The core partner data centres that are integrated in NorDataNet are listed in https://www.nordatanet.no/en/node/69. In addition to this NorDataNet harvests information on relevant datasets from a number of other data centres. The data centre responsible for the data presented is usually (but not always) listed in the discovery metadata. In essence NorDataNet is an aggregating service that combines information from a number of existing data centres.
Citation of data and service
If you use data retrieved through this portal, please acknowledge our funding source:
Research Council of Norway, project number 245967/F50, Norwegian Scientific Data Network.
Always remember to cite data when used!
Citation information for individual datasets is often provided in the metadata. However, not all datasets have this information embedded in the discovery metadata. On a general basis a citation of a dataset include the same components as any other citation:
author, title,
year of publication,
publisher (for data this is often the archive where it is housed),
edition or version,
access information (a URL or persistent identifier, e.g. DOI if provided)
All partner repositories of NorDataNet support Digital Object Identifiers (DOI), but not all datasets are minted. Whether or not minted depends often on source of the data (e.g. operational data are often yet not minted). However, all data centres support persistent identifiers according to local systems. The information required to properly cite a dataset is normally provided in the discovery metadata the datasets.
Brief user guide
The Data Access Portal has information in 3 columns. An outline of the content in these columns is provided above. When first entering the search interface, all potential datasets are listed. Datasets are indicated in the map and results tabulation elements which are located in the middle column. The order of results can be modified using the "Sort by" option in the left column. On top of this column is normally relevant guidance information to user presented as collapsible elements.
If the user want to refine the search, this can be done by constraining the bounding box search. This is done in the map - the listing of datasets is automatically updated. Date constraints can be added in the left column. For these to take effect, the user has to push the button marked search. In the left column it is also possible to specific text elements to search for in the datasets. Again pushing the button marked "Search" is necessary for these to take action. Complex search patterns can be constructed using logical operators identified in the drop down menu with and phrases embedded in quotation marks. Prefixing a phrase with '-' negates the phrase (i.e. should not occur in the results). Searches are case insensitive.
Other elements indicated in the left and right columns are facet searches, i.e. these are keywords that are found in the datasets and all datasets that contain these specific keywords in the appropriate metadata elements are listed together. Further refinement can be done using full text, date or bounding box constraints. Individuals, organisations and data centres involved in generating or curating the datasets are listed in the facets in the right column. The combination of search fields (including facets) is based on a logical "AND" combination of the fields, i.e. all conditions are fulfilled for the results provided.
The SMMR Antenna Temperatures (Nimbus-7) data set consists of antenna temperatures from passive microwave radiometers aboard NOAA's Nimbus-7 satellite. The instrument is the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR). Each file consists of one days worth of data in swath format, i.e. the portion of the Earth's surface viewed by the scanning radiometer. Antenna temperature data are available from NSIDC from October 1978 to August 1987. SMMR was a ten channel passive microwave instrument using six conventional Dicke-type radiometers. It delivered orthogonally polarized antenna temperature data at five frequencies: 6.6, 10.69, 18.0 21.0 and 37.0 GHz. The two 37.0 GHz radiometers operated
continuously for each polarization. The other radiometers alternated polarizations on alternate scans. The size of each daily file is 35 MBytes. The data are distributed on FTP.
The scanner operated only on alternate days, due to spacecraft power limitations. There are typically at least 14 days of coverage per month, although major data gaps occur in August: in August, 1982, the 4th, 8th, and 16th are missing for both polar regions; in August,
1984, the 13th through the 23rd are missing for both polar regions.
This data set provides imagery developed from Landsat 5 and 7 Thematic Mapper (TM) data for use in studying land cover features during the Soil Moisture Experiment 2002 (SMEX02). The images are the result of combining bands 4, 3, and 2 as red, green, and blue to generate false-color composites.
This data set includes AVHRR/HRPT (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer/High Resolution Picture Transmission) brightness temperatures and reflectances over the NASA Cold Land Processes Field Experiment (CLPX) Large Regional Study Area (LRSA).
This data set contains gridded thickness changes for approximately 650 Himalayan glaciers between 1975 and 2000, and 1040 Himalayan glaciers between 2000 and 2016. The data were derived from KH-9 HEXAGON and ASTER digital elevation models (DEMs), by fitting robust linear trends to time series of elevation pixels over the glacier surfaces.
As of 30 November 2023, this data set is retired and no longer available for download. Please use the <a href="https://nsidc.org/data/explore-data">NSIDC Scientific Data Search</a> to find alternative data sets.
This data set contains raw Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), Global Positioning System (GPS), and camera data over Greenland collected by the NASA Land, Vegetation, and Ice Sensor (LVIS), an airborne lidar scanning laser altimeter.
This data set contains two-way travel times, snow depth and snow water equivalent (SWE) collected with a Sensors & Software 1GHz ground penetrating radar (GPR) as part of the SnowEx 2020 Intensive Observation Period (IOP) at Grand Mesa, Colorado between 06 February 2020 and 09 February 2020.
These data are derived from the SnowEx20 Grand Mesa IOP CSU 1GHz GPR Raw, Version 1 data set (DOI: 10.5067/CT6NS2LIASRS)
Earth Observing System Data Information System, Arctic Leads Experiment, Office of Naval Research Arctic Leads Accelerated Research Initiative, Earth Science Information Partners Program (EOSDIS, LEADEX, LEADS ARI, ESIP)
This data set consists of AVHRR imagery selected from hard copy 'quick look' images to provide the best coverage possible over the Arctic approximately every three days for a three-year period. Level-1B data from NOAA/SDSD have been calibrated and mapped to earth locations, then gridded to 1 km pixels on a basin scale to the polar stereographic projection. The projection is similar to that used by NSIDC to produce DMSP SSM/I polar brightness temperature and sea ice products. Each image was ranked for areal coverage of particular seas and for degree of cloud coverage. Passes covering a large area are generally favored over shorter passes with less cloud cover. The data set was developed in support of the Office Of Naval Research Arctic Leads Accelerated Research Initiative (Arctic Leads ARI). The aim of the Initiative was to develop a more thorough understanding of the oceanography, meteorology, and ice dynamics surrounding formation and evolution of leads in sea ice. The leads ARI field experiment took place from March to April 1992.
A spreadsheet containing the image rankings is available in hard copy (NOARL Tech. Note 118, April 1991); paper copies of the spreadsheet are available on request. Data set information is available on-line. Data are available via FTP.
The mountains of Nepal are one of the most hazardous environments in the world, with frequent landslides caused by tectonic activity, extreme rainfall and infrastructure development. As a landlocked country, Nepal relies on proper functioning of major transportation networks such as the highways to sustain and improve the livelihoods of the population. Every year there are reports of landslides blocking the highways, especially during the rainy season; however, the frequency and location of landslides along the highway corridors are not well reported. RapidEye satellite imagery was used to create annual landslide initiation point inventories along three important highways in Nepal: the Arniko, Karnali, and Pasang Lhamu highway.
This data set contains measurements of Global Positioning System (GPS) signals reflected from the Earth's surface and collected on an airborne platform. The measurements were taken over the Soil Moisture Experiments 2002 (SMEX02) Walnut Creek Watershed area in Iowa, USA. The reflections collected were from flat agricultural land with mostly corn and soybean crops in mid-development.
This data set consists of soil moisture and soil temperature measurements taken during the SnowEx 2021 field campaign. Soil moisture probes were deployed at 9 locations within the Montana Prairie Station study area and monitored soil properties at four different depths (5, 10, 20 and 50 cm).
NOAA/NASA Pathfinder Program, Earth Science Information Partners Program, Earth Observing System Data Information System (NOAA/NASA PATHFINDER, ESIP, EOSDIS)
The Nimbus-7 SMMR Pathfinder Brightness Temperatures data set contains global brightness temperatures in swath format (level 1b) from 25 October 1978 to 20 August 1987. The instrument obtained near-global coverage at five frequencies (6.6, 10.7, 18, 21, and 37 GHz) in both horizontal and vertical polarizations, at a constant incidence angle of 50.3 degrees, every six days. Data are stored as daily orbit files in compressed Hierarchical Data Format (HDF) and are available on FTP.
The Nimbus-7 SMMR Level 1B Pathfinder data set was created at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) from a level 1A 'TAT' data set provided by the Goddard Space Flight Center (GFSC). The SMMR operated continuously from 25 Oct 1978 through 16 November 1987, at which time it began alernate-day operation. The processed level 1B SMMR data are stored as orbit files in HDF format. Each level 1B orbit file covers a time period of approximately 104.16 minutes. The file size for an uncompressed orbit file is approximately 4.3 megabytes. The total volume of the level 1B data set is approximately 70 gigabytes (compressed).
This data set consists of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) data, derived from Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) and Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (ETM+) imagery.
This data set includes spatially distributed estimates of the debris thickness and sub-debris melt enhancement factors for every debris-covered glacier in the Randolph Glacier Inventory
Version 6, excluding the ice sheets and Antarctic Periphery. The debris thickness estimates are derived using a novel approach that uses a combination of sub-debris melt inversion and surface temperature inversion methods. The sub-debris melt enhancement factors are estimated from the debris thickness using debris thickness-melt curves normalized by estimates of the clean-ice melt.
NCEP/NCAR Arctic Marine Rawinsonde Archive contains 17,659 marine rawinsonde reports for the region north of 65 degrees North. Its record extends from 1976 to 1996. These soundings have been extracted from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) rawinsonde archive of the National Meteorological Center (NMC) (now the National Center for Environmental Prediction, or NCEP). The NCEP/NCAR Arctic Marine Rawinsonde Archive data set complements the Historical Arctic Rawinsonde Archive (HARA) for land stations and the Russian 'North Pole' drifting station archive.