A new global gridded glacier dataset based on the Randolph Glacier Inventory version 6.0

• Published in: Journal of Glaciology
• Main Authors: Yaojun Li, Fei Li, Donghui Shangguan, Yongjian Ding
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press 2021
• Subjects: Glacier cover; glacier delineation; glacier geophysics; glacier mapping; Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Meteorology. Climatology; QC851-999; Journal of Glaciology
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2021.28; https://doaj.org/article/23810249eedd468a8251bedd54afd4ab

Gridded glacier datasets are essential for various glaciological and climatological research because they link glacier cover with the corresponding gridded meteorological variables. However, there are significant differences between the gridded data and the shapefile data in the total area calculations in the Randolph Glacier Inventory (RGI) 6.0 at global and regional scales. Here, we present a new global gridded glacier dataset based on the RGI 6.0 that eliminates the differences. The dataset is made by dividing the glacier polygons using cell boundaries and then recalculating the area of each polygon in the cell. Our dataset (1) exhibits a good agreement with the RGI area values for those regions in which gridded areas showed a generally good consistency with those in the shapefile data, and (2) reduces the errors existing in the current RGI gridded dataset. All data and code used in this study are freely available and we provide two examples to demonstrate the application of this new gridded dataset.