Glacier intersects product#

New in RGI 7.0

The glacier intersects products includes only the “divides” or “borders” between adjacent glaciers rather than the complete outlines. The resulting geometries are single lines (each with their own id), with attributes rgi_g_id_1 and rgi_g_id_2 indicating which glacier entities are adjacent. This product is useful for describing the connection between two glaciers (for example by the length of a common boundary) or for glacier models able to use this kind of information.

intersects map

Fig. 5 Example of the glacier intersects product (red) drawn over the glacier product (light blue).#

Product files#

In the following, file contents are explained using RGI region 01 (Alaska) as example:

RGI2000-v7.0-I-01_alaska.shp

RGI glacier intersects as a shapefile (with accompanying .dbf, .prj, .cpg and .shx files).

RGI2000-v7.0-I-01_alaska-attributes.csv

Glacier intersects attributes in a .csv file. The attributes are strictly the same as those encountered in the shapefile. This file allows users to read glacier attributes without reading the entire shapefile.

RGI2000-v7.0-I-01_alaska-attributes_metadata.json

Description of the attributes in the intersect product shapefile: full name, description, units, etc. The content of this file is displayed in Full list of attributes below.

Full list of attributes#

The following attributes are available in the RGI 7.0 shapefiles.

rgi_id

long_name: RGI identifier
description: Unique identifier assigned to a single intersect line.
datatype: str
units:
source: RGI

rgi_g_id_1

long_name: RGI glacier identifier of glacier 1
description: Glacier identifier of the intersected glacier number 1. An intersect line is always connecting two glaciers, but the choice of which glacier is listed as 1 is arbitrary.
datatype: str
units:
source: RGI

rgi_g_id_2

long_name: RGI glacier identifier of glacier 2
description: Glacier identifier of the intersected glacier number 2. An intersect line is always connecting two glaciers, but the choice of which glacier is listed as 2 is arbitrary.
datatype: str
units:
source: RGI

length_m

long_name: Intersect length
description: Length of the intersect in meters.
datatype: float
units: m
source: RGI

geometry

long_name: Geometry
description: Intersect geometry (LineString).
datatype:
units: deg
source: RGI