Randolph Glacier Inventory - A Dataset of Global Glacier Outlines, Version 3

The Randolph Glacier Inventory (RGI) is a global set of glacier outlines; it is intended as a snapshot of the world’s glaciers. This data set provides a single outline for each glacier and is produced in coordination with the Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) initiative. The RGI is not suitable for measuring glacier-by-glacier rates of area change, but can be used to estimate glacier volumes, rates of elevation change at regional and global scales, and cryospheric responses to climatic forcing.

Glacier mapping data are contributed to both GLIMS and the RGI from the glaciological community. RGI is produced by the Working Group on the Randolph Glacier Inventory and Infrastructure for Glacier Monitoring, a body of the International Association of Cryospheric Sciences (IACS). This data set is updated approximately annually.

Glacier outlines are distributed as Shapefiles. Hypsometric data (CSV files) and gridded auxiliary data (GeoTIFFs) are also available. All RGI data are packaged globally and by region, with regions based upon the Global Terrestrial Network for Glaciers.