Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2022-369
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2022-369
08 Feb 2023
 | 08 Feb 2023
Status: this preprint is currently under review for the journal ESSD.

Inventory of glaciers and perennial snowfields of the coterminous USA

Andrew G. Fountain, Bryce Glenn, and Christopher Mcneil

Abstract. This report summarizes the methods used to construct an inventory of glaciers and perennial snowfields of the contiguous United States. The inventory is based on interpretation of mostly aerial imagery provided by the National Agricultural Imagery Program, US Department of Agriculture with some satellite imagery in places where aerial imagery was not suitable. The inventory includes all perennial snow and ice features greater than 0.01 km2. Due to aerial survey schedules and seasonal snow cover, multiple imagery dates were required. The earliest date is 2013 and the latest is 2020, but more than 73 % of the outlines were acquired from 2015 imagery. The inventory is compiled as shapefiles within a geographic information system that includes feature area and location. The inventory identified 1331 (366.52 km2) glaciers, 1776 (31.00 km2) perennial snowfields, and 35 (3.57 km2) buried-ice features. The data including both the shape files and tabulated results are publicly available at https://doi.org/10.15760/geology-data.03 (Fountain and Glenn, 2022).

Andrew G. Fountain et al.

Status: open (until 14 Apr 2023)

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Andrew G. Fountain et al.

Data sets

Data From: Inventory of Glaciers and Perennial Snowfields of the Coterminous USA Andrew G. Fountain, Bryce Glenn https://doi.org/10.15760/geology-data.03

Andrew G. Fountain et al.

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Short summary
Glaciers are rapidly shrinking globally. To identify past change and provide a baseline for future change we inventoried the extent of glaciers and perennial snowfields across the western USA excluding Alaska. Using mostly aerial imagery we digitized the outlines of all glaciers and perennial snowfields equal to or larger than 0.01 km2 using a geographical information system. We identified 1331 (366.52 km2) glaciers and 1776 (31.00 km2).