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1966_Glacier margins derived from USGS 1966 topographic maps for the named glaciers of Glacier National Park, MT and environs

Metadata Updated: July 6, 2024

The 1966 polygons included in this data release represent the main body portion of the 37 named glaciers of Glacier National Park (GNP) and 2 named glaciers on the U.S. Forest Service’s Flathead National Forest land. This is a subset of the original mapping effort derived from 1:24000 scale mapping of named glaciers and permanent snowfields within Glacier National Park, Montana which were digitized by Richard Menicke (Glacier National Park) and Carl Key (U.S. Geological Survey) in 1993. These data are based on USGS 7.5 minute quadrangle mapping published from 1966 through 1968 which were the result of the earliest park-wide aerial surveys of snow and ice features in GNP. Examination of the aerial photographs shows that seasonal snow was present at some of the glaciers, limiting the ability of the 1966-1968 cartographers to see and map the glacier ice margins. This resulted in some smoothed and generalized outlines of the glaciers where the cartographers were likely guessing where the ice margins were under the snow. In addition, some photographs show exposed glacier margin ice with irregular patterns that are not represented by the mapped ice margin. It appeared that the original cartographers used a more generalized outline for the glaciers and were not concerned with small scale ice features even when they were evident in the photographs. Despite the generalized nature of the glacier outlines, which were also limited by mapping technology and standards of the time, the dataset represents the baseline for the glacier margins derived from aerial photography. In several cases, because of the generalized nature of the 1966-1968 mapping, a glacier perimeter did not seem as if it reflected likely location in the basin topography. In these cases the original USGS aerial imagery was referred to for verification and revision if the error seemed significant. Specifics of margin revision are detailed in attribute files for those glaciers that warranted change as part of the time series analysis conducted by Dan Fagre and Lisa McKeon (USGS) in February - August, 2016. For each glacier, determination of what constituted the "main body" was made in accordance with USGS criteria outlined in Supplemental Information section of the xml file and some disconnected patches were eliminated in the interest of keeping this analysis strictly to glacier main bodies.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date June 1, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI EDI

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date June 1, 2023
Metadata Updated Date July 6, 2024
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
@Id http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/c0568f1ad953f670e4e149ed2bb89bd3
Identifier USGS:58af7532e4b01ccd54f9f5d3
Data Last Modified 20200826
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://datainventory.doi.gov/data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id e237b918-fcb4-41eb-945c-a3931aa47410
Harvest Source Id 52bfcc16-6e15-478f-809a-b1bc76f1aeda
Harvest Source Title DOI EDI
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -114.236356545,48.308771148,-113.502773433,49.00050802
Publisher Hierarchy White House > U.S. Department of the Interior > U.S. Geological Survey
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash d78f501b5f5d5a6864f87ab6e6f98c329a5287d4d1b2844ad0fe6c635fed8636
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -114.236356545, 48.308771148, -114.236356545, 49.00050802, -113.502773433, 49.00050802, -113.502773433, 48.308771148, -114.236356545, 48.308771148}

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