Greenland Ice Sheet Datasets
If you are searching for Anarctic Ice Sheet datasets, click here. If you are interested in paleo datasets, click here.
Frederikshåb Glacier, Greenland; Landsat-8 True Image
Image Credit: NASA/USGS
Ice Sheet Boundaries
Ice sheet boundaries reveal important information about ice sheet dynamics. This ice sheet boundary inventory is not representative of all available datasets, but some of the most utilized datasets.
MEaSUREs Greenland Ice Mapping Project (GIMP) Land Ice and Ocean Classification Masks 1999-2002 and 2013-2015
ID: GIMP NSIDC Landing page
Description: A link to the data repository hosted on NSIDC for the MEaSUREs Greenland Land Ice and Ocean Classification Masks
Data Format: GeoTIFF
Spatial Resolution: 15 m, 30 m, 90 m
Projection: EPSG:3413 - WGS 84 / NSIDC Sea Ice Polar Stereographic North
Sensor: Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (EMT+)
Platform: Landsat-7
Coverage Period: 1999-2002 and 2013-2015
North-West Greenland Ice Masks - PROMICE
ID: GEUS Dataverse download portal
Description: Mapping products of the extent of the NW Greenland Ice Sheet sector from multiple sources as part of PROMICE (Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet)
Data Format: ESRI Shapefile (vector)
Spatial Resolution: Varied
Projection: EPSG:3264 - WGS 84 / UTM Zone 24N
1. 1985 Extent - Derived from orthophotos from stereophotogrammetric imagery taken in 1985
Sensor: WILD RC10 camera and WILD Super Aviogon-II lens
Platform: Not described
Coverage Period: 1985
2. CCI - Includes peripheral glaciers and ice caps with strong connections to the GrIS; outline is based on Landsat-7 imagery
Sensor: Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+)
Platform: Landsat-7
Coverage Period: 2000-2002
3. GIMP - Derived from image mosaic from Landsat-7 and RADARSAT-1 imagery
Sensor: Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
Platform: Landsat-7, RADARSAT-1
Coverage Period: 1999-2001
4. Rignot dataset - NW sector modified to exclude ice sheet margins north of 76°48'N and 67°0'W
Sensor: Not described
Platform: Not described
Coverage Period: 2007-2008
Climate Change Initiative (CCI) Greenland Ice Sheet Outlines
ID: gi_rgi05_003
Description: Includes peripheral glaciers and ice caps with strong connection to the ice sheet
Data Format: Vector (polygon), shapefile
Spatial Resolution: 30 m
Projection: EPSG: 4326
Sensor: Thematic Mapper (TM), Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (EMT+)
Platform: Landsat-5, Landsat-7
Coverage Period: 1994-2009
Elevation
Ice sheet elevation reveals important information about changing ice sheet dynamics, such as mass balance. This ice sheet elevation inventory is not representative of all available datasets, but some of the most utilized datasets.
Greenland 5 km DEM, Ice Thickness, and Bedrock Elevation Grids, Version 1
ID: NSIDC-0092
Description: Combination of ERS-1 and Geosat satellite radar altimetry data, ATM data, and photogrammetric digital height data
Data Format: TIFF, IMG, Binary, ASCII
Spatial Resolution: 5 km x 5 km
Projection: Not specified
Sensor: Altimeters, Advanced Thematic Mapper (ATM), Radar altimeters, Radar echo sounders
Platform: Aircraft, Geosat
Coverage Period: 1970, 1993-1999
IceBridge BedMachine Greenland, Version 5
ID: IDBMG4
Description: Bed topography and bathymetry map of Greenland based on mass conservation and ocean bathymetry data (see documentation)
Data Format: NetCDF, GeoTIFF
Spatial Resolution: 150 m x 150 m
Projection: WGS 84 / NSIDC Sea Ice Polar Stereographic North
Sensor: Multichannel Coherent Radar Depth Sounder (MCoRDS)
Platform: NASA DC-8, P-3B
Coverage Period: 1993-2021
MEaSUREs Greenland Ice Mapping Project (GrIMP) Digital Elevation Model from GeoEye and WorldView Imagery, Version 2
ID: NSIDC-0715
Description: DEM derived from imagery collected by GeoEye-1, WorldView-1, -2, and -3 satellites (see documentation)
Data Format: GeoTIFF
Spatial Resolution: 30 m x 30 m
Projection: WGS 84 / NSIDC Sea Ice Polar Stereographic North (EPSG:3413)
Sensor: CAMERAS
Platform: GeoEye-1, WorldView-1, WorldView-2, WorldView-3
Coverage Period: 2008-2020
IceBridge ATM L2 Icessn Elevation, Slope, and Roughness
ID: Not Specified
Description: IceBridge ATM L2 Icessn Elevation, Slope, and Roughness data organized into individual flight lines
Data Format: Shapefile, ASCII
Spatial Resolution: Not specified
Projection: Not specified
Sensor: C-130, DC-8, G-V, HU-25A, HU-25C, P-3B, WP-3D ORION
Platform: Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM)
Coverage Period: 1993-2019
Velocity
Ice sheet velocity reveal important information about changing ice sheet dynamics. This ice sheet velocity inventory is not representative of all available datasets, but some of the most utilized datasets.
MEaSUREs Multi-year Greenland Ice Sheet Velocity Mosaic, Version 1
ID: NSIDC-0670
Description: Multi-year ice sheet-wide velocity mosaic derived from InSAR, SAR, and OLI imagery (see documentation)
Data Format: GeoTIFF, JPEG
Spatial Resolution: 250 m
Projection: WGS 84 / NSIDC Sea Ice Polar Stereographic North (EPSG:3413)
Sensor: Operational Land Imager (OLI), Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
Platform: Landsat-8, RADARSAT 1 and 2, ALOS PALSAR, TerraSAR-X (TSX)/TanDEM-X (TDX), ERS-1/2
Coverage Period: 1995-2015
Greenland Ice Velocity from Sentinel-1 Edition 4
ID: Not Specified
Description: Timeseries of Greenland Ice Sheet velocity mosaics derived from the European Space Agency (ESA) 's Sentinel-1 SAR
Data Format:PNG with accompanying NetCDF
Spatial Resolution: 200 m
Projection: Polar Stereographic projection (EPSG: 3413)
Sensor: Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
Platform: Sentinel-1
Coverage Period: 2016 to present
MEaSUREs Greenland Ice Velocity: Selected Glacier Site Velocity Maps from InSAR, Version 4
ID: NSIDC-0481
Description: Velocity estimates derived from SAR data for glacier outlet areas
Data Format: GeoTIFF, JPEG
Spatial Resolution: 100 m
Projection: WGS 84 / NSIDC Sea Ice Polar Stereographic North (EPSG:3413)
Sensor: Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
Platform: TerraSAR-X/ TanDEM-x (TSX/TDX)
Coverage Period: 2008-2023
Gravity
Ice sheet gravity reveal important information about changing ice sheet dynamics. This ice sheet gravity inventory is not representative of all available datasets, but some of the most utilized datasets.
IceBridge Sander AIRGrav L1B Geolocated Free Air Gravity Anomalies, Version 1
ID: IGGRV1B
Description: Measurements collected from Sander Geophysics AIRGrav (airborne gravity system), as part of Operation IceBridge
Data Format: XML, ASCII
Spatial Resolution: 5 km to 7 km
Projection: WGS 84 / NSIDC Sea Ice Polar Stereographic North (EPSG:3413) | WGS 84 / Antarctic Polar Stereographic (EPSG:3031)
Sensor: AIRGrav
Platform: DC-8, P-38
Coverage Period: 2009-2018