Close

Service Interruption

World Glacier Inventory

Home  |   Documentation : Search Tips  |   Search Entire Inventory  |   Extract Select Regions


Data Set Documentation

Summary

The World Glacier Inventory (WGI) contains information for over 100,000 glaciers throughout the world. Parameters within the inventory include geographic location, area, length, orientation, elevation, and classification of morphological type, and moraines. The inventory entries are based on a single observation in time and can be viewed as a snapshot of the glacier at this time. The core of this collection is data from the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) , Zurich, Switzerland.

You can search the entire glacier inventory in one of several ways. The Search Entire Inventory interface uses string keyword searches or latitude/longitude searches that allow you to narrow the search if you also enter parameters in the glacier Altitude/Size/Length field or in the Optional Advanced Search Features section. You can search the entire database by entering the inventory parameters without specifying any other search criteria. You can also choose to do a completely separate search by geographic regions in the Extract Select Regions interface or to extract the entire database from the FTP site.

NSIDC strongly encourages you to register as a user of this data product. As a registered user, you will be notified of updates and corrections. Please contact NSIDC User Services to register and write "World Glacier Inventory Registration" in the message text box.

As of May 2011, NSIDC is working with the WGMS to plan an update to the inventory in line with the work of Cogley (2010).

Citing These Data

These data are offered free of charge. You may use these data freely, provided that you cite NSIDC as the source, and provide an acknowledgment in any published papers.

National Snow and Ice Data Center. 1999, updated 2009. World glacier inventory. World Glacier Monitoring Service and National Snow and Ice Data Center/World Data Center for Glaciology. Boulder, CO. Digital media.

Overview Table
 

Category Description
Data format ASCII text
Spatial coverage and resolution Northern and Southern Hemispheres with the following approximate geospatial coordinates:

Southernmost Latitude: 45.94° S
Northernmost Latitude: 81.35° N
Westernmost Longitude: 141.07° W
Easternmost Longitude: 175.57° E
Temporal coverage 1901 - 1993
Parameters Glaciel Parameters:
Minimum, mean, and maximum elevation
Area
Length

For a full list, see Table 1
Metadata access View metadata
Data access Search the database using the interfaces: Search the Entire Inventory or Extract Select Regions
A text file of the complete database (wgi06102009.dat) is available via FTP

 

Table of Contents

  1. Contacts
  2. Overview
  3. Detailed Data Description
  4. Data Access and Related Collections
  5. Quality Assessment and Update History
  6. References and Related Publications
  7. Acknowledgments
  8. Document Information

1. Contacts

Investigators

Martin Hoelzle and Wilfried Haeberli
World Glacier Monitoring Service
Zurich, Switzerland
http://www.geo.unizh.ch/wgms/

See Data Sources for other data contributors.

Technical Contact

NSIDC User Services
National Snow and Ice Data Center
CIRES, 449 UCB
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309-0449  USA
phone: +1 303.492.6199
fax: +1 303.492.2468
form: Contact NSIDC User Services
e-mail: nsidc@nsidc.org

2. Overview

The history of systematic glacier monitoring on a large scale began in 1894, with the establishment of the International Glacier Commission at the 6th International Geological Congress in Zurich, Switzerland. Over time, observational procedures were standardized and the number of glaciers for which measurements were available grew. In 1986, the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) was established under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and other international organizations. WGMS collects measurements of glaciers from organizations around the world and has compiled these regional inventories into a baseline World Glacier Inventory that will be updated every few decades (the response time for glacier mass balance). The World Glacier Inventory of glacier parameters serves as a snapshot of glacier conditions in the second half of the 20th century (Haeberli, 1998; Haeberli and Wallen, 1992).

Scientists are interested in the mass balance of glaciers, that is, whether a particular glacier is losing mass through increased melting or gaining mass through increased snowfall. Overall, the net mass balance for a sampling of glaciers from around the world is negative (WMO, 1998), with alpine glaciers showing a particularly marked decrease in mass over the last twenty-five years. Actual mass balance measurements are difficult and costly to obtain, so most glaciers must be studied through glacier parameters such as length, width, elevation, ablation area, and accumulation area (Haeberli and Hoelzle, 1995). The World Glacier Monitoring Service has more recent information, as does NSIDC's State of the Cryosphere Web page.

In 1998, WGMS and NSIDC agreed to work together to make the World Glacier Inventory widely available online. At that time, the WGMS World Glacier Inventory consisted of data from about 25,000 glaciers from North America, South America, Europe, and New Zealand. NSIDC maintained its own Eurasian Glacier Inventory of glacier parameters from over 34,000 glaciers in the former Soviet Union and China (Bedford and Haggerty, 1996). These data were acquired through a NOAA Environmental Services Data and Information Management project from V. Kotlyakov and M. Kunakhovitch (Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow), and X. Chen (WDC for Glaciology, Lanzhou). Between 1995 and 1998, NSIDC and WGMS exchanged files of glacier parameters, with NSIDC providing WGMS with glacier data from China and the former Soviet Union, and WGMS providing NSIDC with the WGMS World Glacier Inventory data.

The new World Glacier Inventory contained data for more than 67,000 glaciers and was made available online at NSIDC in 1999. Subsequently, a number of users made NSIDC aware of errors in the World Glacier Inventory for some data from the former Soviet Union and China and edits were made. Please see the Quality Assessment and History of Updates section of this documentation for more information.

Measuring glaciers is a labor intensive process that employs traditional field surveys in hard-to-access and sometimes hazardous places. For this reason only a small percentage of the world's glaciers have been measured at all. Air photos and high resolution satellite imagery can sometimes supplement field work. The Global Land Ice Monitoring from Space (GLIMS) project is designed to monitor glaciers using data from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on the Terra satellite. Data from GLIMS may eventually supplement the World Glacier Inventory. NSIDC is working with the WGMS to coordinate glacier data updates in GLIMS and the WGI. This work contributes to the Global Terrestrial Observing System's Glacier Network.

3. Detailed Data Description

Data Sources

Data from the former Soviet Union were provided by V. Kotlyakov and M. Kunakhovitch, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow. L. Chernova provided additional data from the former Soviet Union at a later date (see the Quality Assessment and History of Updates section of this document). Chinese glacier data were provided by X. Chen, WDC for Glaciology, Lanzhou, China and by T. Che, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute (CAREERI), Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. Data for selected Alaskan glaciers were provided by V. Valentine and K. Echelmeyer, Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Glacier data for Chile were provided by the Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Aridas (CEAZA). All other data were compiled by and received from M. Hoelzle, World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS), Zurich, Switzerland, prior to 2001. All fields in the glacier inventory are filled with information provided by the data contributor unless otherwise noted in the Update History section of this document.

Data Format

The data on the FTP site are stored in a single ASCII text file called wgi06102009.dat. The file contains one glacier record per line. Fields are separated by spaces and are arranged as follows. A description of each field is given in Table 1 in the Data Field Descriptions section of this document.

Field Names

Below are the 48 field names in the order that they appear in wgi06102009.dat:

Data Field Descriptions

The World Glacier Inventory contains the following data fields listed in alphabetical order by short name. Note: Not all glaciers have entries in every field.

Table 1. Field Names and Descriptions
Short Name Field Name Description
area_accuracy Area accuracy The accuracy of the area measurements on a percentile basis.

Index Accuracy (%)
1 0 - 5
2 5 - 10
3 10 -15
4 15 -25
5 > 25
area_exposed Area exposed The area of open ice, in square kilometers.
area_in_state Area in state The total area in a particular political state.
coordinates Coordinates Local coordinates in UTM or other nationally determined format, for instance, the coordinates for U.S. glaciers are entered as words.
data_contributor Data contributor The institutions or persons who contributed the data to NSIDC.
date_received Date received The date the glacier data was received.
depth_acc Depth accuracy The accuracy of the depth measurement on a percentile basis.

Index Accuracy (%)
1 0 - 5
2 5 - 10
3 10 -20
4 20 - 30
5 > 30
form Form 0: Uncertain or miscellaneous
1: Compound basins
2: Compound basin
3: Simple basin
4: Cirque
5: Niche
6: Crater
7: Ice apron
8: Group
9: Remnant
frontal_char Frontal characteristic 0: Normal or Miscellaneous
1: Piedmont: Ice field formed on a lowland by lateral expansion of one, or coalescence of several, glaciers.
2: Expanded foot: Lobe or fan formed where the lower portion of the glacier leaves the confining wall of a valley and extends onto a less restricted and more level surface.
3: Lobed - Part of an ice sheet or ice cap, disqualified as an outlet or valley glacier.
4: Calving -Terminus of a glacier sufficiently extending into sea or lake water to produce icebergs.
5: Confluent - Coalescing, non-contributing.
6: Irregular, mainly clean ice (mountain or valley glaciers).
7: Irregular, debris-covered ice (mountain or valley glaciers).
8: Single lobe, mainly clean ice (mountain or valley glaciers).
9: Single lobe, debris-covered ice (mountain or valley glaciers).
glacier_name Glacier name The name of the glacier. Note that not every glacier has a name within the database. Often the name is the glacier's numerical position within its particular drainage subregion.
glacier_num Glacier number The glacier ID number as defined by the World Glacier Monitoring Service's convention. The glacier ID number is a 12 character code formed by combining the following elements:
  • 1 or 2 character country code or political unit
  • 1 character continent code
  • 4 character drainage code
  • 2 character free position code
  • 3 character local glacier code
For instance, for the glacier ID, CH4L00185006, the CH is the country code (Switzerland), the 4 is the continent code (Europe), the L001 is the drainage basin code, the 85 is free position code, and the 006 is a local glacier code.

The six continent codes used in the database are as follows:
  • 1: South America
  • 2: North America
  • 3: Africa
  • 4: Europe
  • 5: Asia
  • 6: New Zealand
The nineteen country codes used in the database are as follows:
  • Argentina: RA
  • Austria: A
  • Bhutan: BH
  • Bolivia: RB:
  • Canada: CD
  • Chile: RC
  • China: CN
  • Ecuador: EC
  • France: F
  • Italy: I
  • Nepal: NP
  • New Zealand: NZ
  • Norway: N
  • Pakistan: PK
  • Peru: PE
  • Soviet Union: SU
  • Spain: E
  • Sweden: S
  • Switzerland: CH
  • United States: US
The glacier ID numbers for the Chilean glaciers, provided by CEAZA, do not contain a 3-digit local glacier code.
Note that glacier ID numbers assigned by former Soviet Union catalogues (Catalog of USSR Glaciers) diverge from the WGMS protocol. The numbering scheme for the FSU glaciers is as follows:

2 character country code
1 character continent code
1 character basin code
2 character volume code
1 character issue code
2 character part code
3 character local glacier code

For instance, for the glacier ID SU5T09101001, the SU is the country code (Soviet Union), the 5 is the continent code (Asia), the T is the drainage basin code, the 09101 refers to volume 9, issue 1, part 1 of the Catalog of USSR Glaciers, and the 001 is a local glacier code.
lat Latitude The latitude of the glacier, in decimal degrees North. Southern latitudes are negative.

lon Longitude The longitude of the glacier, in decimal degrees East. Western longitudes are negative.
longi_profile Longitudinal profile 0: Uncertain or miscellaneous
1: Even, regular
2: Hanging
3: Cascading
4: Ice fall
5: Interrupted
max_elev Max altitude The highest glacier altitude, in meters above sea level
max_length Max length The maximum glacier length, in kilometers.
max_length_ab Max length ablation The maximum length of ablation area, in kilometers.
max_length_ex Max length exposed The maximum length of exposed ice, in kilometers.
mean_depth Mean depth The physical depth of the glacier, in meters.
Note: Mean depth is given only if actually measured (for instance by drilling or radio-echo soundings).
mean_elev Mean altitude The mean glacier altitude, in meters above sea level
mean_elev_ab Mean altitude ablation The mean altitude of the ablation area, in meters above sea level
mean_elev_ac Mean altitude accumulation The mean altitude of the accumulation area, in meters above sea level
mean_length Mean length The mean glacier length, in kilometers.
mean_width Mean width The mean width of the glacier, in kilometers.
min_elev Min altitude The lowest glacier altitude, in meters above sea level
min_elev_ex Min altitude exposed The lowest altitude of exposed ice, in meters above sea level
moraines1
moraines2
Moraine code First digit (moraines1) refers to moraines in contact with present-day glacier. Second digit (moraines2) refers to moraines farther downstream.

Both of the digits use the following coding system:

0: No moraines
1: Terminal moraines
2: Lateral and/or medial moraine
3: Push moraine
4: Combination of 1 and 2
5: Combination of 1 and 3
6: Combination of 2 and 3
7: Combination of 1, 2, and 3
8: Debris, uncertain if morainic
9: Moraines, type uncertain or not listed
morphologic_type Morphologic type This field was added in August 2007 to correspond to morphologic types for former Soviet Union data provided by L. Chernova
num_basins Number of basins Number of drainage basins
orientation_ab Orientation of the ablation The aspect of the ablation area in degrees. The value -360 indicates an ice cap.
orientation_ac Orientation of the accumulation The aspect of the accumulation area in degrees. The value -360 indicates an ice cap.
period_activity Period of observed activity Period of activity for which the tongue activity was assessed
photo_year Photo year The year of the photograph used for measurements of glacier parameters.
primary_class Primary classification 0: Uncertain or miscellaneous
1: Continental ice sheet
2: Ice field
3: Ice cap
4: Outlet glacier
5: Valley glacier
6: Mountain glacier
7: Glacieret and snowfield
8: Ice shelf
9: Rock glacier
snow_line_acc snowline accuracy The snowline accuracy rating.

Index Accuracy (m)
1 0 - 25
2 25 - 50
3 50 - 100
4 100 - 200
5 > 200

Note: snowline elevation concerns the altitude of the transient snowline at the end of the ablation season or, in most cases and for practical reasons, at the time of photography.
snow_line_date snowline date The date of observation of the snowline or the method of calculation of the snowline. The date of observation can range from a precise day (e.g. 1/1/54) to an individual year (e.g. 1967).
The glacier data from the former Soviet Union often uses an estimation technique to locate the snowline. The type of technique used is noted within the snow line date column.
They are as follows:

HESS: snowline estimated from an analysis of a topographic map. Snow line is designated as the elevation where concave contour lines are replaced by convex contour lines in the accumulation area
KUROWS: The Kurowski method estimates snowline as the elevation which puts equal glacier areas above and below this line
HEFER: The snowline is estimated as the mean of the glacier terminus elevation and the peaks surrounding the accumulation area
SHEGLOV: The snowline is estimated as the elevation where the peak occurs on the curve of distribution of area by elevation
snow_line_elev snowline elevation The observed or calculated location of the snowline. In meters above sea level
source_nourish Major source of nourishment 0: Unknown
1: Snow
2: Avalanches
3: Superimposed ice
tongue_activity Activity of tongue 0: Uncertain
1: Marked retreat
2: Slight retreat
3: Stationary
4: Slight advance
5: Marked advance
6: Possible surge
7: Known surge
8: Oscillating
topo_scale Topographic scale The scale of the topographic map used for measurements of glacier parameters.
topo_year Topographic year The year of the topographic map used for measurements of glacier parameters.
total_area Total area The total area of the glacier, in square kilometers.

 

4. Data Access and Related Collections

The data can be obtained from the FTP site or from the web accessible Search Interface.

Downloading the Entire Database

The entries from the entire WGI database can be obtained from the FTP site in the ASCII text file wgi06102009.dat.

Using the Search Interface

There are two different search interfaces for the WGI. To search the entire glacier inventory by entering a keyword or words, entering latitude/longitude, or select one or more inventory parameters, use the Search the Entire Inventory interface. To search by a desired location name (for example, New Zealand), use the Extract Select Regions interface.

The default output for the entire inventory interface includes glacier number, glacier name, lat/lon, total area, mean elevation, and primary classification. You can choose to include everything from each parameter by selecting ALL or you can display only a selection of available fields. Note that selecting the ALL option for any parameter overrides any other selections for that parameter.

The results are displayed in your Web browser as comma-delimited ASCII text. A blank space between commas or -9999 indicates a missing value. To save the output data to a file, you can do a File --> Save as command in most web browsers.

Search Tips

Related NSIDC Data Collections

Please use our Advanced Data Search to find other NSIDC glacier data sets.

Other Related Data Collections

A number of glacier inventory and mass balance data sets are available from the World Glacier Monitoring Service based in Zurich, Switzerland.

5. Quality Assessment and Update History

Quality Assessment

Data obtained from WGMS were subjected to plausibility checks at WGMS while they were being loaded into the database in Zurich. Errors uncovered during the plausibility check were printed out and sent to the data collectors for review. The final accuracy of the data is the responsibility of the data collectors in the individual countries (Hoelzle and Trindler, 1998).

Data received at NSIDC from X. Chen (China) and V. Kotlyakov (former Soviet Union) were checked at NSIDC for impossible values that might indicate digitizing errors. Therefore, data values may exist that are irregular but not impossible. For example glacier CN5Y812B0008 has a frontal characteristic value that indicates calving. Though the glacier's high altitude might indicate an error in the classification, calving into a small lake is not impossible so the data remain unchanged.

Checks on the data were both general and field-specific. General checks were applied to all fields and included ensuring that data were recorded in a consistent manner. Field-specific checks included ensuring that maximum lengths, minimum lengths, and mean lengths were accurate in relation to each other (the maximum exceeds the mean which exceeds minimum), that maximum and minimum elevations of glaciers and snowlines were appropriate for their location, and that total areas and ablation areas were accurate in relation to each other (ablation area must be less than total area). NSIDC asked the data contributor about incorrect data values. Data that were corrected on recommendation from data contributors are indicated in the glacier quality field. After these checks took place, data from glaciers in China and the former Soviet Union were sent to WGMS for incorporation into later versions of the WGMS database.

Update History

July 2010

In July 2010, some errant lat/lon values were discovered. The values that formerly appeared as -10165.6500 and 10165.6500 were determined to be missing data values. They are now displayed in the ASCII search interface output as blank spaces between commas in the lat and lon columns. Approximately 24,000 values were affected.

December 2009

In December 2009, NSIDC changed all of the -9999 values (which indicate a missing value) in the ASCII search interface output to a blank space between commas. Before making the change, the NOAA@NSIDC team discussed it with a scientist at NSIDC and also with a scientist at the World Glacier Monitoring Service to ensure that the change would have a minimal impact (if any at all) on users who have already downloaded the data. The original WGMS database did not contain -9999 values.

Also in December, incorrect values for the Topographic Scale were noticed in the database. Occasionally, these values were listed as "1:-99990". After some investigation, it was determined that these values indicate missing data, so they are now displayed as a blank space between commas in the ASCII search interface output.

June 2009

In June of 2009, 157 glaciers from the Huasco Catchment in Chile were added to the database. These were provided by CEAZA. The elevation ranges were obtained from Chilean topographical maps (1955 aerophotogrammetrical restitution). The glacier areas and lengths were taken from Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) data.

March 2008

In March of 2008, the World Glacier Inventory Extract Select Regions interface and maps were updated.

November 2007

In November 2007, 46,394 glaciers from the Chinese glacier inventory were supplied to NSIDC by Dr. Tao Che. Many had contributed to this data collection, including Dr. Xin Li and Mr. Lizong Wu. The data were retrieved from the book titled "Chinese Glacier Information System" (in Chinese). T. Che provided a file listing the regions covered by this update. These regions include Ertix He (Kara Irtysh), Yellow River, Yangtze River, Lancang Jiang, Nu Jiang, Ganga River, Indus River, Central Asian Drainage Basin, Eastern Asian Drainage Basin, and the Tibet Drainage Basin. To see the direct mapping between codes in the Glacier ID and the regions they represent, see the files first.txt, second.txt, third.txt, fourth.txt, and fifth.txt in the nov2007_update directory on the FTP site.

Of the 46,394 glaciers that T. Che provided to NSIDC, 34,254 glaciers were added to the World Glacier Inventory and the other 12,140 glaciers replaced existing glacier entries in the database. Many corrections were applied to the data. The file glacier_replaced_ids.txt provides a list of Glacier IDs that were replaced. There are now 43 glaciers in the WGI remaining from the original Chinese glacier inventory (data provider, Chen). To access the data from this update, go to the WGI Search interface and select "CAREERI, Lanzhou, China. Che/Wu" from the Data Contributor Search pull-down menu.

NSIDC performed a basic quality check on the new Chinese glacier inventory. B. Raup identified and corrected five coordinates that were incorrect, wrote a script to convert the coordinates from degrees and minutes to decimal degrees, and identified inconsistencies with certain coordinates based on a visual assessment using a map. For example, the Glacier ID CN5O282A0448 contains latitude (20.228) and longitude (95.83017) coordinates that are most likely too far south to be in the Chinese glacier inventory. The bulleted list below shows changes made at NSIDC to the original data given to us by T. Che:

Users will notice that some columns contain multiple values. For example, there may be one, two, or three years listed in the topographic year field. According to Mr. Wu, "There are only one reference data in a five level glacier catchment, and if a glacier catchment uses different (two or more) reference data, there will be multiple values." We interpret this to mean that there is a many to many relationship between glaciers and the reference data (maps).

Note that some fields given to us by T. Che were not added to the WGI database because they are not valid WGI fields. For example, Ice Volume is not a valid WGI field. In addition to the WGI update, glacier outlines were also provided and these outlines are now available through the Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) Glacier Database interface.

August 2007

In August 2007, the database was updated with data from Lyudmila Chernova. Between 2002 and 2004, NSIDC corresponded with L. Chernova concerning errors in glacier IDs that she had identified in glaciers from Volume 13 of the approximately 80 volume set Catalog of USSR Glaciers. These glaciers had the drainage basin incorrect, with A where X should have been. She provided corrected glacier IDs, which were fixed in the database in August 2007. A complete list of the 368 corrected glacier IDs is available in the text file 20070815_corrected_glacier_ids.txt. A map of the former Soviet Union regions (fsu_regions.pdf) provided by L. Chernova provides data users with a view of the different regions. The map visually shows how regions 5A and 5X differ geographically.

L. Chernova also noted that glaciers from Vol. 15 Issue 1 Chapters 5, 6, 7 and 8, and Vol. 15 Issue 2 Chapter 1 were missing from the WGI as well as glaciers from Vol. 14 Issue 3 Chapter 9; Vol. 13 Issue 2 Chapter 5; and Vol. 16 Issue 2 Chapter 2. L. Chernova provided NSIDC with the missing data, which were added to the database in August 2007.

The data files from L. Chernova included a six-digit Classification Code field (for example, 650100). These codes relate to four one-digit WGI fields and to one newly added two-digit Morphologic Type field. The Classification Code field was added to the database (August 2007) and only contains values for data provided by L. Chernova. Using the six-digit example above, the first two-digit value corresponds to the Morphologic Type (65) and the following four fields correspond to Frontal Characteristic (0), Longitudinal Profile (1), Major Source of Nourishment (0) and Tongue Activity (0). Below is table showing the relationship between morphological types and their description.
 

Table 2. Relationship Between Morphological Types and their Description
Morphologic Type Morphological Description
36
slope glacier
37
flat summit glacier
51
dendritic
52
compound
53
valley
63
corrie valley
64
corrie
65
hanging
75
niche
76
crater
77
ice apron

 

Some of the records supplied by L. Chernova have a glacier name with one, two, or three digits that correspond to the last digits of the glacier ID.

L. Chernova followed the descriptions in this document for the orientation of the accumulation and orientation of the ablation fields. These values are provided in degrees rather than direction (for example, 360 versus N). Other data contributors provide values for these two fields using direction rather than degree. To convert between degrees and direction (per L. Chernova's description): 360 = N, 90 = E, 180 = S, 270 = W, 45 = NE, and so forth.

Records from L. Chernova listed area accuracy as a range (for example, 10%-20%). Since the area accuracy field is generally a single number in the WGI database, we converted this to a single value by taking the mean (for example, 12.5, based on the 10%-15% range). A precision in estimating area accuracy is not implied by the precision of this statistic. We thank Ian Evans for reformatting the data files provided by L. Chernova.

February 2007

In February 2007, a user informed NSIDC that a glacier with an area of 5360 square kilometers does not exist in the Pamirs. The total area field for glacier number SU5X14319097 was changed from 5360 to -9999 (the missing value).

January 2004

In January 2004, a user notified NSIDC about probable errors in the WGI orientation fields. It was found that the Soviet Union Glacier Inventory and data from China had errors in the Orientation Ablation and Orientation Accumulation fields of the database. Specifically, glaciers with a country code of CN (for China) and SU (for Russia) had east and west reversed. We corrected these fields by swapping E and W, NE and NW, and SE and SW. The glacier Orientation Ablation and Orientation Accumulation fields have been corrected and the data have been reloaded as of 05 May 2005. We thank Dr. Ian S. Evans for bringing this to our attention.

March 2003

In March 2003, NSIDC discovered discrepancies between glacier locations in the online WGI database and glaciers in the WGMS database. The locations for the glaciers in the WGI at NSIDC had errors with a magnitude of 0.005 degrees or approximately 500 m. We hypothesize that the differences were due to a rounding error that occurred during a database migration in September 2001. The glacier locations have been corrected as of 15 March 2003.

May 2001

In 2001, former Soviet Union data were found to contain corrupted geodetic coordinate data as a result of a mistake in processing that took place at NSIDC. In detail, data were corrupted when the latitude/longitude coordinates for the glaciers between +33.00 and +181.17 degrees longitude and between +33.00 and +81.85 degrees latitude were converted twice from degrees-minutes format to decimal degree format in the process of putting the data in the database. The ASCII text file of the whole database, wgi06102009.dat, contained uncorrupted data in decimal degree format for these particular glaciers, while the coordinates for the rest of the glaciers were in degrees-minutes format. Both the ASCII file of the entire database and the data in the Web-accessible database have been corrected as of 04 May 2001. They contain only decimal degree formatted latitude/longitude data.

6. References and Related Publications

Bedford, D. and C. Haggerty. 1996. New digitized glacier inventory for the former Soviet Union and China. Earth System Monitor, ISSN 1068-2678, NOAA Environmental Information Services Office, 6(3): 8-10.

Cogley, J. G. 2010. A more complete version of the World Glacier Inventory. Annals of Glaciology, 50(53), 32-38. doi: 10.3189/172756410790595859.

Evans, I.S. 2005. Global variations of local asymmetry in glacier altitude: separation of north-south and east-west components. J. Glaciology 51(174): 469-482.

Evans, I.S. 2006. Glacier distribution in the Alps: statistical modeling of altitude and aspect. Geogr. Ann., 88 A (2):115-133.

Evans, I.S. 2006. Local aspect asymmetry of mountain glaciation: A global survey of consistency of favoured directions for glacier numbers and altitudes. Geomorphology 73: 166-184.

Haeberli, W. 1998. Historical evolution and operation aspects of worldwide glacier monitoring in Into the second century of worldwide glacier monitoring: prospects and strategies. Studies and reports in hydrology, No. 56. Edited by W. Haeberli, M. Hoelzle, and S. Suter. UNESCO Publishing, Paris: 36-52.

Haeberli, W. and M. Hoelzle. 1995. Application of inventory data for estimating characteristics for and regional climate change effects on mountain glaciers: a pilot study with the European Alps. Annals of Glaciology 21: 206-212.

Haeberli and Wallen. 1992. Glaciers and the Environment UNEP GEMS Environment Library No. 9, 24 pp.

Hoelzle, M., M. Trindler. 1998. Data Management and Application in Into the second century of worldwide glacier monitoring: prospects and strategies. Studies and reports in hydrology, No. 56. Edited by W. Haeberli, M. Hoelzle, and S. Suter. UNESCO Publishing, Paris: 53-72.

Molnia, B.F.  2008. Glaciers of North America – Glaciers of Alaska. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1386-K.

Müller, F., Caflisch, T. and Müller, G. (eds.). 1977. Instructions for the compilation and assemblage of data for a world glacier inventory. IAHS(ICSI)/UNESCO report, Temporal Technical Secretariat for the World Glacier Inventory (TTS/WGI), ETH Zurich, Switzerland. [pdf]

Müller, F. (ed.). 1978. Instructions for the compilation and assemblage of data for a world glacier inventory; Supplement: Identification/glacier number IAHS(ICSI)/UNEP/UNESCO report, Temporal Technical Secretariat for the World Glacier Inventory (TTS/WGI), ETH Zurich, Switzerland. [pdf]

Scherler, K. (ed.). 1983. Guidelines for preliminary glacier inventories. IAHS(ICSI)/ UNEP/UNESCO report, Temporal Technical Secretariat for the World Glacier Inventory (TTS/WGI), ETH Zurich, Switzerland. [pdf]

UNESCO (1970): Perennial ice and snow masses – a guide for compilation and assemblage of data for the World Glacier Inventory. Technical Papers in Hydrology No. 1. [pdf]

Vinogradov, O. N. and Psareva, T. V. (1965) USSR Surface Water Resources, Catalogue of USSR Glaciers, vol. 3, Northern Territory; Part I, Franz-Josef Land, Barents Sea Basin: Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow.

WGMS (1989): World glacier inventory - Status 1988. Haeberli, W., Bösch, H., Scherler, K., Østrem, G. and Wallén, C. C. (eds.), IAHS (ICSI) / UNEP / UNESCO, World Glacier Monitoring Service, Zurich, Switzerland: 458 pp. [pdf] [24 MB]

WMO. 1998. The Global Climate System Review, December 1993-May 1996 J.M. Nicholls, ed., World Climate Data and Monitoring Programme, WMO-No. 856, 95 pp.

Zemp, M., et al. 2008. Global glacial changes: facts and figures. World Glacier Monitoring Service, Zurich, Switzerland. [pdf] [25 MB].

7. Acknowledgments

This data set was originally made available as the result of an informal collaboration between Martin Hoelzle of the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) in Zurich, Switzerland, and Christopher Haggerty, formerly of the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado, under the guidance of Wilfried Haeberli, WGMS director, and Roger Barry, NSIDC director. The NOAA Environmental Services Data and Information Management (ESDIM) program funded the first acquisition of glacier data from China and the former Soviet Union.

Data were first made available online from NSIDC in 1999. In 2001, a number of errors were corrected (see Quality Assessment and History of Updates section of this document), online subsectioning capabilities were improved, data were migrated to a Sybase database, and the documentation was revised. Bruce Raup, Alejandro Machado, I-Pin Wang, Robin Welsh, and Michon Scott, all of NSIDC, performed this work.

We are grateful to Dr. Ian S. Evans, Department of Geography at Durham University, for bringing errors in the WGI to our attention. His generous contribution of time and expertise has resulted in an improved data product.

The NOAA@NSIDC team maintains this product. Distribution of this data set from NSIDC is supported by funding from NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) and the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC).

8. Document Information

Document Authors

This document was originally prepared by C. Haggerty and published in 1999. It has been updated by F. Fetterer and L. Ballagh and by NSIDC's team of writers including R. Welsh, K. Webster, and A. Windnagel.

Revision Date

March 2011: A. Windnagel and F. Fetterer reviewed the document, made minor edits, and added an overivew table.

July 2010: A. Windnagel added a note to the update history section.

June 2010: A. Windnagel added the schemas for accuracy ratings for area accuracy, snowline accuracy, and depth accuracy to Table 1.

December 2009: A. Windnagel changed the missing data value from -9999 to NULL. Also, reformatted the Data Field Descriptions section (put text into a table) and reversed the order of the Update History section so the newest updates are listed first.

June 2009: L. Ballagh added the Chilean glacier updates from CEAZA. Updates were made to the Data Sources, Data Format, Quality Assessment and History of Updates, and Revision Date sections of this document.

March 2008: L. Ballagh added a comment in the Quality Assessment section about the updates to the Select Extract Regions section of the World Glacier Inventory interface.

November 200:- L. Ballagh added updates for the Chinese glacier inventory. Updates were made to the Quality Assessment and History of Updates, the Summary, Citing These Data and Data Sources sections of this document.

November 2007: L. Ballagh updated the Quality Assessment section.

August 2007: F. Fetterer and L. Ballagh made an addition to the section on Quality Assessment and History of Updates

February 2007: L. Ballagh made an addition to the section on Quality Assessment and History of Updates

May 2005: F. Fetterer revised the format and added to the section on Quality Assessment and History of Updates

Document URL

http://nsidc.org/data/docs/noaa/g01130_glacier_inventory/