GLIMS: Global Land Ice Measurements from Space Monitoring the World's Changing Glaciers

Easy Access to GLIMS Glacier Data and Related ASTER Imagery

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.

Further Information

• 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. (PDF)

• 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. (PDF)

• 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. (PDF)