A dataset of glacier vector in the Qaidam Basin from 1977 to 2018

Abstract

The Qaidam Basin (34°41′N–39°20′N, 87°49′E–101°11′E), a closed inland basin located in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau and surrounded by the Qilian Mountains, Altun Mountains and Kunlun Mountains, covers part of Qinghai Province, Gansu Province and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The elevation of the basin is between 2391 m and 6826 m, with an average altitude of 4165 m. A large number of modern glaciers were developed in the Qaidam Basin. The glacial meltwater is an important source for the many rivers in the basin and a significant safeguard for local socio-economic development and people's life. Therefore, glacial changes in the region have an important influence on water resources and their rational utilization. Based on the Landsat MSS/TM/OLI from 1977 to 2018 and the ASTER GDEM data, we extracted the glacier vector data of the Qaidam Basin from 1977 to 2018 and provided each glacier’s properties including GLIMS_ID, name, basin, area and image source et al. The dataset presents the status of glaciers in Qaidam Basin in 1977, 2002 and 2018, which can be used as the basic data for research on glacier change and climate change in this region.