Education Center | Photo Gallery

Data Advanced Data Search More Data Discovery & Access Easy-to-use Data Products Data Collections Data Software & Programming Tools Data Submission Data News Centers & Programs Antarctic Glaciological Data Center Arctic System Science Data Coordination Center IARC Frozen Ground Data Center International Polar Year Data & Information Service (IPYDIS) NOAA at NSIDC NSIDC Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC) U.S. Antarctic Data Coordination Center World Data Center for Glaciology, Boulder Science Scientists Research Projects Publications NSIDC Notes Glaciological Data Series Special Reports Posters & Presentations Annual Reports Education Resources News & Events Press Room NSIDC In the News Data News Events About Expertise Data & Services NSIDC Sponsors Contacts Jobs Related Organizations

WDC for Glaciology, Boulder Facilitating the international exchange of snow and ice data

   WDC Boulder Home   WDC Boulder History   WDC Boulder Activities   WDC Annual Report   WDC Boulder Catalog

Activities

Moored Upward-Looking Sonar Instruments: Under the ACSYS/CliC banner, the WDC for Glaciology is taking on data management of moored upward-looking sonar instruments. Our first data set, AWI Moored ULS Data, Weddell Sea (1990-1998), is from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany.

Glacier Photograph Collection: With support from the NOAA Climate Database Modernization Program, the WDC for Glaciology, Boulder, is digitizing historical glacier photographs.

Mapping Global Glacier Recession: The WDC for Glaciology convened an NSF-sponsored workshop on "Mapping Global Glacier Recession" in Boulder, 16-18 March 2003. Experts from 11 countries considered improved methods to map mountain glaciers and ice caps in light of the recent acceleration in their recession, and proposed procedures to increase rapidly the availability of digital data on glacier extent. Working groups addressed the status of the Global Terrestrial Network for Glaciers (GTN-G) within the Global Climate Observing System and the World Glacier Inventory. The previously estimated number of glaciers worldwide and their calculated ice volume are undoubtedly too low, due to the omission of ice bodies around the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. For most mountain areas there is evidence of accelerated glacier wastage over the last two-three decades.

Glaciological Data Series: Publication GD-30, entitled TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY, Monitoring an Evolving Cryosphere: Summary of the NSIDC Special Session at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, December 10-14, 2001, is available online.

Global Digital Sea Ice Data Bank (GDSIDB): The Global Digital Sea Ice Data Bank (GDSIDB) at NSIDC and at the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI), St. Petersburg, Russia, was established to archive digital operational ice charts from the world's ice services. It is a project of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology.

International Ice Charting Working Group (IICWG): The International Ice Charting Working Group (IICWG) was formed in October 1999 to promote cooperation between the world's ice centers on all matters concerning sea ice and icebergs.

Global Climate Observing System (GCOS): NSIDC Director, Roger G. Barry, is co-Vice Chair of the World Climate Research Programme ACSYS/CliC Scientific Steering Group and is a member of the GCOS/Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS) Terrestrial Observation Panel for Climate.

Global Glacier Recession Workshop: A three-day workshop on assessing global glacier recession was held 16-18 March 2003 at NSIDC, with the aim of evaluating current methods of determining the worldwide recession of mountain glaciers over the last half-century or longer. New GIS-based mapping techniques using ASTER imagery and digital databases were demonstrated.