Read about the new and improved features of the GLIMS Glacier Database!

GLIMS (Global Land Ice Measurements from Space) is a project designed to monitor the world's glaciers primarily using data from optical satellite instruments, such as ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and reflection Radiometer).

GLIMS began as an ASTER Science Team project. Through this connection, we have guided the ASTER instrument to acquire imagery of Earth's glaciers that is optimized (best season and instrument gain settings) for glacier monitoring. We have also put together a network of international collaborators who analyze imagery of glaciers in their regions of expertise. Analysis results include digital glacier outlines and related metadata, and can also include snow lines, center flow lines, hypsometry data, surface velocity fields, and literature references. Results from analysis done by the Regional Centers are sent for archive to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).

We continue to develop tools to aid in glacier mapping and for transfer of analysis results to NSIDC. These include GLIMSView, documented procedures for GLIMS analysis, and web-based tools for data formatting and quality control.

Over 60 institutions across the globe are involved in GLIMS. The project is coordinated by Principal Investigator Jeffrey S. Kargel of the University of Arizona Department of Hydrology and Water Resources. The GLIMS Glacier Database and GLIMS web site are developed and maintained by the NSIDC in Boulder, Colorado, USA. The research team at NSIDC currently includes Richard Armstrong (Principal Investigator), Bruce Raup (Technical Lead), Siri Jodha Singh Khalsa (Remote Sensing Specialist) and Adina Racoviteanu (Research Assistant and GIS Specialist).

"Glim" is an archaic Scottish term that means "a passing look; a glimpse; as much as is seen at a glance." In a future historical perspective, we may well look back on GLIMS and other early-21^st Century remote-sensing of Earth's glaciers as a glim of a passing or changing phenomenon.