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Alpine glacier outlines, 2015–2016

Explore glacier outlines mapped from Sentinel-2 images in 2015 and 2016. Compare source areas and elevations across the Alps.

Paul, Frank; Rastner, Philipp; Azzoni, Roberto Sergio; Diolaiuti, Guglielmina; Fugazza, Davide; Le Bris, Raymond; Nemec, Johanna; Rabatel, Antoine; Ramusovic, Mélanie; Schwaizer, Gabriele; Smiraglia, Claudio (2019). Glacier inventory of the Alps from Sentinel-2, shape files. PANGAEA, doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.909133. Outlines simplified on 2026-09-15.

About this dataset

  • This inventory uses Sentinel-2 images from August 2015 and some 2016 images for Italy.
  • The source contains glacier identifiers rather than common glacier names. Map labels use those identifiers.
  • Areas and elevations are source measurements. The outlines do not show present-day glacier extent.
  • Open the map to compare glacier areas and add study notes. Simplification removes some small boundary details.
  • The source paper explains the uncertainty in outlines, especially for debris-covered ice.

Source and licence

Paul and colleagues / PANGAEA

Licence: CC BY 4.0

GeoJSON download details

The download includes all 4,395 features as area groups, areas. Coordinates use longitude and latitude in WGS84.

The preparation date is when we prepared this dataset. Read the source notes for the dates covered by the data.

GeoJSON fields 6
name
Label using the source glacier identifier.
glacier_id
Identifier within this glacier inventory.
country
Source country code.
area_km2
Source glacier area in square kilometres.
image_date
Date of the source satellite image.
mean_elevation_m
Source mean elevation in metres.