Global Glacier Mass Balance and Regime Data from 1945-2003

NSIDC provides a data set of glacier regime parameters observed between 1945 and 2003. It includes annual mass balances, ablation, accumulation, and equilibrium-line altitude for over 300 mountain and subpolar glaciers outside the major ice sheets. The data were compiled from publications, archives, and personal communications, then digitized and quality checked.

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term trends in annual mass balance for specific glaciers.
• Comparing ablation and accumulation rates across different mountain and subpolar regions.
• Studying the variation of equilibrium-line altitude over time for climate modeling.
• Validating glacier and ice sheet models with historical regime data.

Strengths

• Contains time series data for more than 300 individual glaciers.
• Integrates data from multiple sources including publications and archives, providing a consolidated view.
• Covers a long temporal range from 1945 to 2003 for studying multi-decadal trends.

Limitations

• The exact row count and specific column names are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on the last update date, with one listing 2003-12-31 and another 2026-03-13, suggesting possible metadata inconsistency.

Provenance

Source

NSIDC

Collection Method

Compiled from all available sources including publications, archived data, and personal communications.

Time Range

1945 to 2003

Freshness

2026-03-13 02:38:50.204740

Geography

Mountain and subpolar glaciers outside the two major ice sheets (Greenland and Antarctica).