| Summary: | Ground data on snow cover and land ice, together with related hydrological and meteorological data, exist for many areas of the world. This paper gives an overview of available data in Switzerland and Norway, where snow cover and glacier monitoring are of considerable scientific and economic importance. A Worldwide Glacier Inventory compiled by the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) in Switzerland is available. Standardized data on the distribution and characteristics of a large number of glaciers all over the world have been collected, and access to a relational database system is now available using computer networks. In addition historical data on glacier mass balance and front positions have been collected for selected glaciers with long time series. Since 1930 ground measurements of snow cover have been collected regularly within a dense network in Switzerland. Data from hydrological and meteorological networks in Switzerland are also available in digital form. Norway is covered by extensive current and historical glacier, snow cover, hydrological and meteorological ground data networks, largely as a result of hydropower requirements. Almost all of this data can be ordered in digital form for transfer over computer networks. Overviews of these data for browsing by network users should be available soon. 1.
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