March 2012 - GLIMS

New version of the World Glacier Inventory
by Michael Zemp 19 Mar '12

19 Mar '12

Dear GLIMSlist-subscriber, The World Glacier Monitoring Service and the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center jointly revised and updated the World Glacier Inventory (WGI) based on additional sources from the literature (e.g., Rau et al. 2004, Cogley 2008, Radic& Hock 2010). This latest version of the WGI contains detailed glacier inventory information for more than 130,000 glaciers covering over 470,000 sqkm and is online available from: http://nsidc.org/data/glacier_inventory/index.html When using this dataset, please reference as WGMS and NSIDC (1989, updated 2012): WGMS and NSIDC (1989, updated 2012): World Glacier Inventory. Compiled and made available by the World Glacier Monitoring Service, Zurich, Switzerland, and the National Snow and Ice Data Center, Boulder CO, U.S.A. Digital Media. Note that the WGI was initiated during the International Hydrological Decade (IHD; 1965−1974) and is mainly based on aerial photographs and maps of the second half of the 20th century. The database stores geographical coordinates of glacier label points and tabular information about glacier classification, area, length, orientation and altitude range. New inventories including digital glacier outlines, mainly based on satellite images, are stored in the GLIMS database including the full complement of the WGI-defined glacier characteristics (cf. http://www.glims.org) A detailed and commented overview on global glacier datasets is available on the website of the Global Terrestrial Network for Glaciers:http://www.gtn-g.org/data_overview.html Please make use of these datasets and help us to further expand it with your data contributions! Best regards Michael Zemp (WGMS)& Florence Fetterer (NSIDC) PS Sincere thanks go to the following staff members who were involved in this latest revision of the WGI: Kathrin Naegeli, Ann Windnagel, Jon Davis, Daniel Crumly, Bruce Raup, and Richard Armstrong. + + + + Michael Zemp Director WGMS, PD Dr. sc. nat. World Glacier Monitoring Service Department of Geography University of Zurich Winterthurerstrasse 190 8057 Zurich SWITZERLAND phone: +41 44 635 51 39 email:wgms@geo.uzh.ch <https://webmail.geo.uzh.ch/src/compose.php?send_to=wgms%40geo.uzh.ch> website:http://www.wgms.ch

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Fwd: ESA-CliC-EGU conference
by Jonathan Bamber 13 Mar '12

13 Mar '12

Dear colleague, I am pleased to inform you that ESA in collaboration with CliC and EGU are organising the topical conference: Earth Observation and Cryosphere Science Advancing Knowledge of Cryosphere-Atmosphere-Ocean Interactions from Space 13-16 November 2012 European Space Agency ESRIN, Via Galileo Galilei Frascati, 00044 Italy The specific objectives of this topical conference are: (1) To assess recent progress in the full range of cryosphere relevant EO-based observations and techniques; (2) To review the major scientific advances in cryosphere science with special attention to the understanding of cryosphere-atmosphere-ocean interactions and impacts in climate change; (3) To discuss the challenges and opportunities in cryosphere science offered by the new generation of EO satellites as well as the major observational gaps for the coming decades; (4) To consolidate a scientific roadmap outlining the main priorities and challenges for the cryosphere community in terms of novel observations, enhanced EO-based products and techniques and innovative scientific results. Contributions are sought for presentations on the state-of-the-art research and developments in the use of EO for cryosphere science. Invited keynotes will give overviews of problems, progress and prospects in key areas. Poster presentations will be the main form of presentation. Plenty of time will be reserved for discussions. Preliminary list of relevant topics: · Reducing uncertainties in mass balance estimates; · Ice sheet dynamics; · Ice shelf-ocean interactions; · Snow, snow albedo and snow water equivalent; · Hydrology in high latitudes and extreme events; · Polar ocean, dynamic topography, and circulation; · Sea ice, thickness and dynamics; · Permafrost and seasonally frozen ground; · Glaciers and Ice caps; · Ice-ocean-atmosphere interactions; · Role of Cryosphere in climate; · Cryosphere and ocean dynamics (e.g., thermohaline circulation); · Cryosphere interactions with the carbon cycle; · Role of the Cryosphere in the water cycle; · Lake and river ice; *The deadline for the submission of the abstracts is 15 June 2012.* For more information, registration and submission of abstracts please go to the Conference web site: *http://www.eo4cryosphere.info* With our best regards The Organising Committee: Diego Fernández Prieto (ESA) Jenny Baeseman (CliC Project Office) Jonathan Bamber, Bristol Glaciology Centre, UK (EGU) Konrad Steffen, University of Colorado, USA; Mark Drinkwater (ESA) Vladimir Ryabinin (WCRP) Anna Hoog (ESA) -- ______________________________________________________________________ Prof. J.L. Bamber tel: 44-(0)117-331-4129 Bristol Glaciology Centre, fax: 44-(0)117-928-7878 School of Geographical Sciences, email:j.bamber@bristol.ac.uk University of Bristol, University Road, Bristol, BS8 1SS, UK. _____________________________________________________________________

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ESA Climate Change Initiative - Ice sheets : input needed to develop new satellite data products
by Christine Hvidberg 07 Mar '12

07 Mar '12

Dear GLIMS science community, ESA has launched a long-term term project: Ice sheets_CCI under the Climate Change Intiative Program (www.esa-cci.org) in order to improve data products from monitoring of ice sheets and to make the products available for users. We need input from the science community in developing the most useful data products, and we hereby invite potential users to provide this important input to the project. The goal is to set up a long-term and reliable production of key parameters. The selected parameters are: Surface Elevation Change, Ice Velocity, Grounding Line Location and Calving Front Position. The project focuses on the Greenland ice sheet including its outlet glaciers. Antarctica is not directly included at this stage, but similar methods will presumably be implemented to Antarctica later. We have set up an on-line survey in order to: 1) obtain important and detailed knowledge of user requirements. 2) understand what is needed to maximize the impact of the data products. 3) understand the role and importance of the Ice sheets_CCI data products to the climate community in general. Please go to the survey page at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TQVMND3 The survey takes about 15 minutes to complete. You can leave the survey and resume it later. The first 3 questions survey the general interest of the data products. The deadline for participation is 13 March 2012. Thank you in advance for your important input to help us planning and prioritizing the development of satellite based data products from ice sheets. Kind regards, Christine Hvidberg, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Rene Forsberg, Technical University of Denmark (PI) -- **************************************************************** Christine Schott Hvidberg Associate Professor Center for Ice and Climate Niels Bohr Institute University of Copenhagen Juliane Maries 30, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. Fax: +45-35 32 06 21 Phone: +45-35 32 05 63 Email: ch(a)gfy.ku.dk www.icecores.dk ****************************************************************

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