This data set, part of the NASA Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) program, contains a global record of the daily freeze/thaw status of the landscape. The record is derived from radiometric brightness temperatures acquired between 1979 and 2021 by four satellite-based, passive microwave sensors: the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR), the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I), the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS), and the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2).