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USGS Benchmark Glacier Project Comprehensive Data Collection

Metadata Updated: January 7, 2026

Mountain glaciers are closely coupled to climate processes, ecosystems, and regional water resources. To enhance physical understanding of these connections, the USGS maintains a collection of glacier mass balance and climate data across the western United States and Alaska. In some cases, records of glacier mass balance extend back to the mid-1940s. These data have been incorporated from various sources, primarily original USGS studies, but also including work from the University of Alaska, and the Juneau Icefield Research Program (JIRP). The core of this collection is composed of mass balance data from the USGS Benchmark Glaciers. These five glaciers are Lemon Creek Glacier, AK (1953 -Present), South Cascade Glacier, WA (1958 - Present), Gulkana and Wolverine glaciers, AK (1966 - Present), and Sperry Glacier, MT (2005 - Present). Datasets from each benchmark glacier are composed of, at a minimum, point mass balances, glacier hypsometry, daily temperature and precipitation, geodetic mass balances, and glacier-wide mass balances. Data from other glaciers within this collection may be less complete, continuous, or representative as data from the benchmark glaciers. In these cases, we urge users to carefully inspect the associated metadata of each specific data release for further details.

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.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date January 7, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 7, 2026

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date January 7, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 7, 2026
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/USGS_ASC258
Data Last Modified 2020-11-25T00:00:00Z
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://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-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 5df4d498-daa8-4beb-a0e3-e55da801486c
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -180, 35, -100, 71
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 405b77155612093b0aa724d35cf11b879a83a5af1210bdc6920d564d5b1acdc7
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -180, 35, -180, 71, -100, 71, -100, 35, -180, 35}

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