Internationally collected, standardized dataset on glacier distribution, mainly based on satellite observations (e.g. Terra/ASTER, LANDSAT/ETM+). Data organized as tabular information linked to digital vector outlines of individual glaciers.
Creator: Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) Glacier Inventory
Publisher: US National Snow and Ice Data Center
First Publication Year: 2005
(Last) Publication Year: 2025 (continuously updated)
Release Date: continuously updated
Update Intervals: periodically
Citation: GLIMS, and NSIDC. 2005, updated 2025. GLIMS Glacier Database. [indicate subset used]. Boulder, Colorado USA: National Snow and Ice Data Center.
Related Publication: Raup, B.H.; A. Racoviteanu; S.J.S. Khalsa; C. Helm; R. Armstrong; 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
Contributors: GLIMS scientific collaboration network as listed on the GLIMS website and in the database: https://www.glims.org/About/
Language: English
Data Format: GLIMS data are stored in a PostGIS database. Data can be downloaded in any of these formats: ESRI Shapefile, MapInfo Table, GML, KML, or GMT.
Data Size: Approximately 2 GB (size of prepackaged files at daacdata.apps.nsidc.org/pub/DATASETS/nsidc0272_GLIMS_v1/)
Rights: Open access for scientific and educational purposes under requirement of correct citation (see above)
Spatial Coverage: global
Temporal Coverage: 1450-2024
Identifier (DOI): 10.7265/N5V98602
Related Identifier (DOI): na