What is the maturity of the global glacier datasets?

The amount of glacier data has increased significantly over the last two decades as remote sensing techniques have improved. This increasing amount of freely available glacier data (inventories and changes), as well as related needs by data providers, data users, and data repositories in-between results in a higher demand for proper data curation and stewardship.
Dedicated support and long-term commitment for certified data repositories build the basis for the successful democratization of data. In the field of glacier data, this balancing act has so far been achieved through joint collaboration between data repository institutions, data providers, and data users.

Fig. 1 Timeline related to the operational bodies and partners within GTN-G and their predecessor bodies (blue bars), as well as influencing international efforts in relation to use and valorization of glacier data (green bars), from Gärtner-Roer et al. 2022.

From the comparison of seven glacier datasets available within the Global Terrestrial Network for Glaciers (GTN-G; www.gtn-g.org) we conclude:
– The current state of the GTN-G datasets can largely be explained through historical development, reflecting different needs from stakeholders incl. users.
– The GTN-G datasets have been developed in a research environment, hence long-term data curation and stewardship are absolutely necessary.
– Currently, datasets that are managed based on a mid- to long-term funding (e.g., the FoG dataset) have the highest maturity.
– Urgent action must be taken to keep the state-of-the-art and individual data curation strategies need to be implemented and tailored for each operational body, considering the context (e.g., funding situation; project funds vs. long-term funding).
– These strategies need to be evaluated, revised, and adapted on a regular basis, which can be ensured through the GTN-G Advisory Board.
– Data curation requires constant updates of software to meet technical demands of increasing complexity and to provide direct access to most up-to-date information, which in turn needs proper data versioning.
– International standardization such as provided for example by the CoreTrustSeal contributes to a secure setting for the data services.
– Technical equipment, hiring professional staff and long-term retention of qualified personnel is key to offer the different services and to serve the entire community.
Most challenges can only be overcome in a financially safe and secure setting for data services. However, the money spent on the data provider and user side for creating and working with the datasets is several orders of magnitude larger than the funds available for data curation. Considering the importance of glacier data to answer numerous key environmental and societal questions (from water availability to global sea-level rise), this bias needs to be adjusted.

Fig. 2 Summary matrix with the performance of the seven datasets available within GTN-G, from Gärtner-Roer et al. 2022.

Most challenges can only be overcome in a financially safe and secure setting for data services. However, the money spent on the data provider and user side for creating and working with the datasets is several orders of magnitude larger than the funds available for data curation. Considering the importance of glacier data to answer numerous key environmental and societal questions (from water availability to global sea-level rise), this bias needs to be adjusted.

References

Gärtner-Roer I, Nussbaumer SU, Raup B, Paul F, Welty E, Windnagel AK, Fetterer F and Zemp M (2022) Democratizing Glacier Data – Maturity of Worldwide Datasets and Future Ambitions. Front. Clim. 4:841103. doi: 10.3389/fclim.2022.841103