Readiness of the Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) Database at NSIDC
Abstract
GLIMS (Global Land Ice Measurements from Space) is an international project to survey a majority of the world's 160,000 glaciers with data collected by the ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and reflection Radiometer) instrument aboard the EOS Terra spacecraft, and Landsat ETM+ (Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus). Approximately 1,500 ASTER images suitable for GLIMS analyses have been acquired as of Fall 2002. A group of internationally distributed glaciologists at Regional Centers of expertise have begun to analyze the satellite data, derive glacier measurements (glacier geometry, surface velocity, and snowline elevation), and provide them in a consistent format for archival and use by the research community via the World Wide Web. The National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) are supporting the GLIMS coordination and data management effort and providing the satellite data. With NASA funding, the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) is developing the information management system for GLIMS. The database design, data transfer specification, ingest module were completed this year. User interfaces are being tested. The database is being populated with the initial results from Regional Centers. Contents include measurements (over time) of glacier length, area, boundaries, topography, surface velocity vectors, and snowline elevation. We are also adding historic glacier data from Central Asia. As contributions from the network of Regional Centers increase, the GLIMS information management system will provide an easy to use and widely accessible service for the glaciological community and other users needing information about the world's glaciers.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2002
- Bibcode:
- 2002AGUFM.C11A0972T
- Keywords:
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- 1600 GLOBAL CHANGE (New category);
- 1640 Remote sensing;
- 1827 Glaciology (1863);
- 1884 Water supply