World Glacier Inventory with 130,000 Glaciers

Over 130,000 glaciers are documented in this inventory, representing approximately 85% of the world's estimated total. The dataset is a snapshot from the second half of the 20th century, compiled primarily from aerial photographs and maps by the World Glacier Monitoring Service. It is hosted by NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

Use Cases

• Analyzing global glacier distribution patterns using geographic location and classification columns.
• Modeling glacier contribution to sea-level rise using area and elevation data.
• Studying historical cryosphere changes by comparing this 20th-century snapshot with modern data.
• Assessing regional glacier characteristics through parameters like orientation, length, and elevation.

Strengths

• Contains a large sample of over 130,000 glaciers, covering an estimated 85% of the global total.
• Provides multiple key physical parameters per glacier, including area, length, orientation, and elevation.
• Based on authoritative source data from the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS).

Limitations

• Represents a single temporal snapshot from the mid-to-late 20th century, not a time series.
• Platforms show conflicting last-updated dates (2003 vs. 2026), indicating potential metadata inconsistency.
• Specific column names and the exact row count are not provided in the available metadata.

Provenance

Source

World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS), based on the original WGI (1989).

Collection Method

Compiled primarily from aerial photographs and maps.

Time Range

Second half of the 20th century.

Freshness

2026-03-12 19:54:50.792413

Geography

Global.