NOAA designates the National Snow and Ice Data Center 1983: NSIDC receives grant from NASA for archiving Nimbus 7 passive microwave data 1990: NSIDC receives funding from NSF for Arctic System Science (ARCSS) Data Coordination Center (ADCC) 1993: NSIDC receives first DAAC contract 1996: Antarctic Data Coordination Center (ADCC) established with NSF support 1999: Antarctic Glaciological Data Center (AGDC) established with NSF support 2001: NSIDC celebrates its 25th Anniversary 2002: Frozen Ground Data Center established with International Arctic Research Center (IARC) support 2003: Full suite of Earth Observing System (EOS) cryospheric sensors (AMSR, GLAS, MODIS) in orbit 2009: Mark Serreze named NSIDC director International interactions International science and data management programs facilitate the free exchange of data and accelerate research aimed at understanding the role of the cryosphere in the Earth system. NSIDC contributes to a number of international programs. Most of these programs, only a few of which are mentioned here, fall under the aegis of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU). NSIDC scientists participate in International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG), International Association of Cryospheric Sciences (IACS), and in activities of the International Permafrost Association (IPA), the Global Digital Sea Ice Data Bank (GDSIDB), and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), including Climate and Cryosphere (CliC), Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX), the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), and the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). Former NSIDC Director, Roger G. Barry, was co-Vice Chair of the WCRP CliC Scientific Steering Group until 2005, and was a member of the GCOS/Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS) Terrestrial Observation Panel for Climate through 2007. Research Researchers at NSIDC investigate the dynamics of Antarctic ice shelves, new techniques for the remote sensing of snow and freeze/thaw cycle of soils, the role of snow in hydrologic modeling, linkages between changes in sea ice extent and weather patterns, large-scale shifts in polar climate, river and lake ice, and the distribution and characteristics of seasonally and permanently frozen ground. In-house scientists pursue their work as part of the CIRES Cryospheric and Polar Process Division, University of Colorado Boulder. NSIDC also monitors Arctic and Antarctic sea ice in near real time, and regularly posts sea ice extent data and analysis on its Arctic Sea Ice News and Analysis page. Local and traditional knowledge A research project of the NSIDC is the Exchange For Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic or