Easy Access to GLIMS Glacier Data and Related ASTER Imagery

[Bruce Raup]

All,

As most of you know, the Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS)
project at NSIDC has implemented a database of glacier outlines from around
the world and other information about glaciers that includes the metadata
on how those outlines were derived.  It also contains browse images and
metadata for ASTER satellite imagery acquired over glacierized terrain.  We
have recently added or improved many features of this database and its
Web-based interfaces. These features include the ability to:

- Explore data on more than 58,000 glaciers via interactive maps or by
  using a text-based interface (which enables searches by name or
  classification).

- View GLIMS glacier data in combination with other data layers, including:
  MODIS Blue Marble imagery, World Glacier Inventory, glaciers from the
  Digital Chart of the World, high-resolution "source" imagery, and GLIMS
  Regional Center boundaries.

- Query data layers to see metadata and attributes, such as glacier name,
  GLIMS ID, and WGMS ID for glaciers or image ID and cloud cover for ASTER
  images.

- Download outlines and metadata for user-selected glaciers in a choice of
  formats: KML (for viewing in Google Earth), ESRI shapefiles, GMT (Generic
  Mapping Tools), MapInfo, or GML (Geography Markup Language).

- View metadata and browse images for all ASTER imagery available
  (2000-2007) over glacierized regions, an easy way to find suitable
  cloud-free ASTER images. Once these are identified, the user can use the
  one-click order feature to order the scenes from EROS/USGS.

- Connect an OGC-compliant desktop application or server to our database
  through the WMS (Web Map Server) and WFS (Web Feature Server) protocols.

We have also implemented a Google Earth interface to our database of ASTER
imagery.  By loading a small (400 bytes) file into Google Earth, users can
view ASTER browse images (at approximately 150 m resolution) overlaid on
the terrain in Google Earth, and constrain by acquisition date which images
appear.  This is a fast way to identify desirable ASTER imagery.  Clicking
on the push-pin of an image displays metadata about the image, as well as a
link that places the granule ID into a EROS/USGS shopping cart that appears
in a pop-up panel.

These features provide quick and easy access to GLIMS glacier data and
ASTER imagery.


WEB SITE and REFERENCES:

http://glims.org/glimsblurb.html
HTML version of this announcement (including links).

http://glims.org/
Click "Data Access" to play with the features described above.

Kargel, Jeffrey S. and 16 others (2005). "Multispectral Imaging
Contributions to Global Land Ice Measurements from Space." Remote Sensing
of Environment 99:187--219.

Khalsa, S.J.S., M.B. Dyurgerov, T. Khromova, B.H. Raup, and R.G. Barry
(2004). "Space-based mapping of glacier changes using ASTER and GIS tools."
IEEE Transactions On Geoscience and Remote Sensing 42:2177--2182.

Raup, B.R., A. Racoviteanu, S.J.S. Khalsa, C. Helm, R. Armstrong, and Y.
Arnaud (2007). "The GLIMS Geospatial Glacier Database:  a new tool for
studying glacier change." Global and Planetary Change, 56:101--110.
doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2006.07.018.

Raup, Bruce H., Andreas Kaab, Jeffrey S. Kargel, Michael P. Bishop, Gordon
Hamilton, Ella Lee, Frank Paul, Frank Rau, Deborah Soltesz, Siri Jodha
Singh Khalsa, Mathew Beedle, and Christopher Helm (2007). "Remote Sensing
and GIS Technology in the Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS)
Project." Computers and Geosciences, 33:104--125,
doi:10.1016/j.cageo.2006.05.015.

-- 
Bruce Raup
National Snow and Ice Data Center
University of Colorado
449 UCB,  Boulder, CO 80309
Phone:  303-492-8814
http://cires.colorado.edu/~braup/