Randolph Glacier Inventory: Global Glacier Outlines

Randolph Glacier Inventory provides a global snapshot of glacier outlines, representing a single polygon for each glacier. It is produced by the International Association of Cryospheric Sciences in coordination with the GLIMS initiative, with contributions from the glaciological community. The dataset is updated approximately annually and is packaged globally and by 19 regions based on the Global Terrestrial Network for Glaciers.

Use Cases

• Estimating glacier volumes and regional mass change using hypsometric data (CSV files).
• Analyzing cryospheric responses to climatic forcing using gridded auxiliary data (GeoTIFFs).
• Conducting regional-scale studies of glacier elevation change using the provided glacier outlines (Shapefiles).
• Mapping global glacier distribution and extent for baseline assessments.

Strengths

• Provides a globally consistent snapshot of glacier outlines from a coordinated international initiative (GLIMS and IACS).
• Includes multiple data types: vector outlines (Shapefiles), tabular hypsometry (CSV), and raster grids (GeoTIFF).
• Data is organized and packaged by 19 standardized regions for regional analysis.

Limitations

• Sources conflict on the last updated date: datagov lists 2026-03-12, while nasa_earthdata lists 2010-12-31.
• The dataset is explicitly not suitable for measuring glacier-by-glacier rates of area change.
• Specific row counts, total glacier count, and detailed column names are not provided in the available metadata.

Provenance

Source

Working Group on the Randolph Glacier Inventory and Infrastructure for Glacier Monitoring, International Association of Cryospheric Sciences (IACS).

Collection Method

Glacier mapping data contributed from the glaciological community, coordinated with the Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) initiative.

Time Range

Intended as a snapshot; specific temporal coverage for the outlines is not stated.

Freshness

2026-03 12 22:30:07.856619 (from datagov, though this is a future date which may indicate a data entry error or planned update)

Geography

Global coverage, packaged by 19 regions based on the Global Terrestrial Network for Glaciers.