The National Snow and Ice Data Center was established in 1976 at the University of Colorado, Boulder as an analog archive and information center, the World Data Center for Glaciology. As part of the Cooperative Institute of Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), NSIDC manages and distributes satellite, airborne and in situ data in support of research into our world’s frozen realms: the snow, ice, glaciers, frozen ground, and climate interactions that make up Earth’s cryosphere.