The Randolph Glacier Inventory

The Randolph Glacier Inventory (RGI) is a globally complete dataset of glacier outlines. It is a contribution of the IACS Working Group on the Randolph Glacier Inventory and is drawn from the Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) database.

The RGI excludes the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica and is designed as a snapshot in time, currently targeting the year 2000. It includes all glaciers larger than 0.01 km² and prioritises global coverage and consistency over precision for individual glaciers. It is best suited for regional and global assessments of glacier area, volume, and change.

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RGI 7.0 — Current Version

RGI 7.0 was released on 19 September 2023 and is the recommended version for all new studies.

Data access: https://nsidc.org/data/nsidc-0770

User Guide: http://www.glims.org/rgi_user_guide/welcome.html

Citation

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

For details on how to cite the RGI in specific contexts, see the dataset reference documentation.