Randolph Glacier Inventory (RGI 7.0) - Glacier Product

The Randolph Glacier Inventory (RGI) is a globally complete inventory of glacier outlines (excluding the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica). It is a subset of the database compiled by the Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) initiative. While GLIMS is a multi-temporal database with an extensive set of attributes, the RGI is intended to be a snapshot of the world’s glaciers at a specific target date, which in RGI 7.0 and all previous versions has been set as close as possible to the year 2000 (although in fact its range of dates can still be substantial in some regions). The RGI includes outlines of all glaciers larger than 0.01 km², which is the recommended minimum of the World Glacier Inventory.

The RGI was not designed for the measurement of glacier-by-glacier rates of area change, for which the greatest possible accuracy in dating, delineation and georeferencing is essential. While many RGI outlines meet these requirements, the primary focus of the RGI is on achieving global coverage, consistency, and proximity in a specific year. The strength of the RGI lies in its ability to handle large numbers of glaciers simultaneously. This allows, for example, for the estimation of glacier volumes and rates of elevation change at regional and global scales, as well as the simulation of cryospheric responses to climatic forcing.

Who develops and hosts the RGI? The RGI has been developed in an international community-driven effort of glaciologists starting in 2010. The inventory was named after “Randolph”, a town in New Hampshire, USA, where the team met for one of their meetings [Pfeffer et al., 2014]. In 2014 development of the RGI became the responsibility of the Working Group on the Randolph Glacier Inventory and Infrastructure for Glacier Monitoring, which operated under the International Association of Cryospheric Sciences (IACS). In 2019, a new Working Group was established to build upon the previous achievements and further expand its objectives: the IACS Working Group on the Randolph Glacier Inventory (RGI) and its role in future glacier monitoring and GLIMS.

The RGI datasets are listed on glims.org, and the RGI files can be downloaded through the data portal at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), which is the host for GLIMS.

Glacier product: includes outlines, attributes and auxiliary data for each individual glacier.

Données et ressources

  • RGI glacier outlines as a shapefile (with accompanying .dbf, .prj, .cpg and .shx files). This product includes the glacier outlines as extracted from GLIMS together with additional data for each...

  • RGI glacier outlines as a shapefile (with accompanying .dbf, .prj, .cpg and .shx files). This product includes the glacier outlines as extracted from GLIMS together with additional data for each...

  • RGI glacier outlines as a shapefile (with accompanying .dbf, .prj, .cpg and .shx files). This product includes the glacier outlines as extracted from GLIMS together with additional data for each...

  • RGI glacier outlines as a shapefile (with accompanying .dbf, .prj, .cpg and .shx files). This product includes the glacier outlines as extracted from GLIMS together with additional data for each...

  • RGI glacier outlines as a shapefile (with accompanying .dbf, .prj, .cpg and .shx files). This product includes the glacier outlines as extracted from GLIMS together with additional data for each...

  • RGI glacier outlines as a shapefile (with accompanying .dbf, .prj, .cpg and .shx files). This product includes the glacier outlines as extracted from GLIMS together with additional data for each...

  • RGI glacier outlines as a shapefile (with accompanying .dbf, .prj, .cpg and .shx files). This product includes the glacier outlines as extracted from GLIMS together with additional data for each...

  • RGI glacier outlines as a shapefile (with accompanying .dbf, .prj, .cpg and .shx files). This product includes the glacier outlines as extracted from GLIMS together with additional data for each...

  • RGI glacier outlines as a shapefile (with accompanying .dbf, .prj, .cpg and .shx files). This product includes the glacier outlines as extracted from GLIMS together with additional data for each...

  • RGI glacier outlines as a shapefile (with accompanying .dbf, .prj, .cpg and .shx files). This product includes the glacier outlines as extracted from GLIMS together with additional data for each...

  • RGI glacier outlines as a shapefile (with accompanying .dbf, .prj, .cpg and .shx files). This product includes the glacier outlines as extracted from GLIMS together with additional data for each...

  • RGI glacier outlines as a shapefile (with accompanying .dbf, .prj, .cpg and .shx files). This product includes the glacier outlines as extracted from GLIMS together with additional data for each...

  • RGI glacier outlines as a shapefile (with accompanying .dbf, .prj, .cpg and .shx files). This product includes the glacier outlines as extracted from GLIMS together with additional data for each...

  • RGI glacier outlines as a shapefile (with accompanying .dbf, .prj, .cpg and .shx files). This product includes the glacier outlines as extracted from GLIMS together with additional data for each...

  • RGI glacier outlines as a shapefile (with accompanying .dbf, .prj, .cpg and .shx files). This product includes the glacier outlines as extracted from GLIMS together with additional data for each...

  • RGI glacier outlines as a shapefile (with accompanying .dbf, .prj, .cpg and .shx files). This product includes the glacier outlines as extracted from GLIMS together with additional data for each...

  • RGI glacier outlines as a shapefile (with accompanying .dbf, .prj, .cpg and .shx files). This product includes the glacier outlines as extracted from GLIMS together with additional data for each...

  • RGI glacier outlines as a shapefile (with accompanying .dbf, .prj, .cpg and .shx files). This product includes the glacier outlines as extracted from GLIMS together with additional data for each...

  • RGI glacier outlines as a shapefile (with accompanying .dbf, .prj, .cpg and .shx files). This product includes the glacier outlines as extracted from GLIMS together with additional data for each...

Cite this as

RGI 7.0 Consortium, 2023. Randolph Glacier Inventory - A Dataset of Global Glacier Outlines, Version 7.0. Boulder, Colorado USA. NSIDC: National Snow and Ice Data Center. doi:10.5067/f6jmovy5navz. Online access: https://doi.org/10.5067/f6jmovy5navz
Published: 2025-07-24 | Publisher: UNESCO

Metadata

Basic information
DOI https://doi.org/10.5067/f6jmovy5navz
Type de ressource
Date de création 2025-07-22
Date de la dernière révision 2025-07-24
Show changelog
Identifiant des métadonnées Randolph-Glacier-Inventory-(RGI-7.0)---Glacier-Product
Langue des métadonnées Anglais
Thèmes (DCAT-AP)
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Catégorie thématique ISO 19115
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Spatial information
Identifiant INSPIRE
Thèmes INSPIRE
Identifiant géographique
Système de référence de coordonnées
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Résolution spatiale de l'ensemble de données (m)
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Déclaration de lignée
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Ensemble de données source
Fréquence de mise à jour
Sources
Objectif
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Étendue temporelle (Début)
Étendue temporelle (Fin)
Notes sur la version
Version 7.0
Validité de l'ensemble de données
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Nom du créateur de l'ensemble de données (Hérité) IHP-WINS
Nom du responsable de la maintenance du jeu de données IHP-WINS
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Courriel du créateur de l'ensemble de données (Hérité) ihp-wins@unesco.org
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Courriel du responsable de la maintenance du jeu de données ihp-wins@unesco.org
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