HR: 1340h
AN: C43C-0234    [Abstracts]
TI: 100 Years of Glacier Photographs: Available Online at the National Snow and Ice Data Center
AU: * Ballagh, L M
EM: vtlisa@nsidc.org
AF: National Snow and Ice Data Center, 449 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0449 United States
AU: Wolfe, J
EM: wolfe@nsidc.org
AF: National Snow and Ice Data Center, 449 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0449 United States
AU: Wang, I
EM: ipwang@nsidc.org
AF: National Snow and Ice Data Center, 449 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0449 United States
AU: Casey, A
EM: acasey@nsidc.org
AF: National Snow and Ice Data Center, 449 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0449 United States
AU: Fetterer, F
EM: fetterer@nsidc.org
AF: National Snow and Ice Data Center, 449 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0449 United States
AB: Historic glacier photographs can be used to study fluctuations in glacier extent over time in response to climate change. Researchers can also use the photographs to approximate changes in glacier terminus location and mass balance. The "Glacier Photograph Collection" at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) contains approximately 5,000 photographs, including both aerial and terrestrial images. NSIDC received funding from the NOAA Climate Database Modernization Program (CDMP) to digitize a portion of the photographs and make an Online Glacier Photograph Database available. The CDMP's primary objective is to preserve climate data and facilitate access to the data. Although digitizing images is expensive, long-term data preservation is a major benefit. When historic photographs are stored on film, images can easily be scratched or damaged. Scanning the images and having them online makes browsing images easier for users. At present, there are 1,313 glacier photographs available online. Additional photos and metadata are being added. The Online Glacier Photograph Database will date from 1883 to 1995, totaling nearly 3,000 photographs available as high resolution TIFF images and lower resolution reference images and thumbnails by the end of 2004. Maintaining accurate metadata records for each photograph is very important. The database is searchable by various fields, including photographer name, photograph date, glacier name, glacier coordinates, state/province, and keyword.
UR: http://nsidc.org/data/g00472.html
DE: 1827 Glaciology (1863)
DE: 1863 Snow and ice (1827)
DE: 1894 Instruments and techniques
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting