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The Randolph Glacier Inventory: a globally complete inventory of glaciers

Pfeffer, W. Tad; Arendt, Anthony A.; Bliss, Andrew; Bolch, Tobias; Cogley, J. Graham; Gardner, Alex S.; Hagen, Jon-Ove; Hock, Regine; Kaser, Georg; Kienholz, Christian; Miles, Evan S.; Moholdt, Geir; Mölg, Nico; Paul, Frank; Radić, Valentina; Rastner, Philipp; Raup, Bruce H.; Rich, Justin; Sharp, Martin J.; Andreassen, L.M.; Bajracharya, S.; Barrand, N.E.; Beedle, M.J.; Berthier, E.; Bhambri, R.; Brown, I.; Burgess, D.O.; Burgess, E.W.; Cawkwell, F.; Chinn, T.; Copland, L.; Cullen, N.J.; Davies, B.; Angelis, H. De; Fountain, A.G.; Frey, H.; Giffen, B.A.; Glasser, N.F.; Gurney, S.D.; Hagg, W.; Hall, D.K.; Haritashya, U.K.; Hartmann, G.; Herreid, S.; Howat, I.; Jiskoot, H.; Khromova, T.E.; Klein, A.; Kohler, J.; Ko¨nig, M.; Kriegel, D.; Kutuzov, S.; Lavrentiev, I.; Le Bris, R.; Li, X.; Manley, W.F.; Mayer, C.; Menounos, B.; Mercer, A.; Mool, P.; Negrete, A.; Nosenko, G.; Nuth, C.; Osmonov, A.; Pettersson, R.; Racoviteanu, A.; Ranzi, R.; Sarıkaya, M.A.; Schneider, C.; Sigurðsson, O.; Sirg...

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Authors

W. Tad Pfeffer

Anthony A. Arendt

Andrew Bliss

Tobias Bolch

J. Graham Cogley

Alex S. Gardner

Jon-Ove Hagen

Regine Hock

Georg Kaser

Christian Kienholz

Evan S. Miles

Geir Moholdt

Nico Mölg

Frank Paul

Valentina Radić

Philipp Rastner

Bruce H. Raup

Justin Rich

Martin J. Sharp

L.M. Andreassen

S. Bajracharya

N.E. Barrand

M.J. Beedle

E. Berthier

R. Bhambri

I. Brown

D.O. Burgess

E.W. Burgess

F. Cawkwell

T. Chinn

L. Copland

N.J. Cullen

B. Davies

H. De Angelis

A.G. Fountain

H. Frey

B.A. Giffen

N.F. Glasser

S.D. Gurney

W. Hagg

D.K. Hall

U.K. Haritashya

G. Hartmann

S. Herreid

I. Howat

H. Jiskoot

T.E. Khromova

A. Klein

J. Kohler

M. Ko¨nig

D. Kriegel

S. Kutuzov

I. Lavrentiev

R. Le Bris

X. Li

W.F. Manley

C. Mayer

B. Menounos

A. Mercer

P. Mool

A. Negrete

G. Nosenko

C. Nuth

A. Osmonov

R. Pettersson

A. Racoviteanu

R. Ranzi

M.A. Sarıkaya

C. Schneider

O. Sigurðsson

P. Sirguey

R. Wheate

G.J. Wolken

L.Z. Wu

F.R. Wyatt



Abstract

The Randolph Glacier Inventory (RGI) is a globally complete collection of digital outlines of glaciers, excluding the ice sheets, developed to meet the needs of the Fifth Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for estimates of past and future mass balance. The RGI was created with limited resources in a short period. Priority was given to completeness of coverage, but a limited, uniform set of attributes is attached to each of the ∼198 000 glaciers in its latest version, 3.2. Satellite imagery from 1999–2010 provided most of the outlines. Their total extent is estimated as 726 800±34 000 km2. The uncertainty, about ±5%, is derived from careful single-glacier and basin-scale uncertainty estimates and comparisons with inventories that were not sources for the RGI. The main contributors to uncertainty are probably misinterpretation of seasonal snow cover and debris cover. These errors appear not to be normally distributed, and quantifying them reliably is an unsolved problem. Combined with digital elevation models, the RGI glacier outlines yield hypsometries that can be combined with atmospheric data or model outputs for analysis of the impacts of climatic change on glaciers. The RGI has already proved its value in the generation of significantly improved aggregate estimates of glacier mass changes and total volume, and thus actual and potential contributions to sea-level rise.

Citation

Pfeffer, W. T., Arendt, A. A., Bliss, A., Bolch, T., Cogley, J. G., Gardner, A. S., …Wyatt, F. (2014). The Randolph Glacier Inventory: a globally complete inventory of glaciers. Journal of Glaciology, 60(221), 537-552. https://doi.org/10.3189/2014jog13j176

Journal Article Type Article
Online Publication Date Jul 10, 2017
Publication Date Jun 1, 2014
Deposit Date May 9, 2014
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Journal of Glaciology
Print ISSN 0022-1430
Electronic ISSN 1727-5652
Publisher International Glaciological Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 60
Issue 221
Pages 537-552
DOI https://doi.org/10.3189/2014jog13j176
Keywords Antarctic glaciology, Arctic glaciology, Glacier delineation, Glacier mapping, Remote sensing, Tropical glaciology.

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