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Enhancing Glacier, Temperature and Precipitation Data Records using PostGIS, GeoServer and Google Earth

Ballagh, Lisa M. 1 ; Fetterer, Florence 2 ; Williams, Mark W. 3

1 National Snow and Ice Data Center
2 National Snow and Ice Data Center
3 INSTAAR

The NOAA program at the National Snow and Ice Data Center has recently made sizeable data set updates and published a new data set. While making new data accessible is a primary objective at NSIDC, there are value-added enhancements that can increase the awareness and visibility of the data sets. An experiment is underway to examine the feasibility and impact of distributing these data through Google Earth.

Recent updates to the World Glacier Inventory (WGI) have helped fill in existing gaps in the inventory. One update included over 1,600 glaciers from the former Soviet Union and another added over 30,000 glaciers from China. These updates have increased the size of the World Glacier Inventory from approximately 67,000 glaciers to over 100,000 glaciers. Each record in the WGI captures a snapshot of glacial characteristics at a single point in time. While this is not a comprehensive collection of all glaciers, this is an expansive and widely used data set.

A new temperature and precipitation data set focused on Central Asia is now available. High elevation records from this region were previously sparse and difficult to obtain. To address this gap, investigators relied on a variety of sources. In some cases, hand written records were digitized. While Central Asia high elevation records exist in the Global Historical Climate Network (GHCN), the number is small compared to the total number of existing stations in the Central Asia region.

An experiment is in progress to evaluate the viability and usefulness of distributing a Google Earth file for both data sets. To implement this functionality, records from both data sets are uploaded to a PostGIS database. The database is then connected to GeoServer and GeoServer automatically creates a Keyhole Markup Language (KML) file by accessing records from the PostGIS database. Data users can then open the KML file in Google Earth to view the data in a geographic context. In addition, users can overlay other data of interest in Google Earth such as a permafrost distribution map.

National Snow and Ice Data Center. 1999, updated 2007. World glacier inventory. World Glacier Monitoring Service and National Snow and Ice Data Center/World Data Center for Glaciology. Boulder, CO. Digital media.

M.W. Williams and V.G. Konovalov. 2008. Central Asia Temperature and Precipitation Data, 1879-2003. Boulder, CO: National Snow and Ice Data Center. Digital media.