World Glacier Monitoring Service

The World Glacier Monitoring Service (WMLS) was founded in 1986 by combining two services: the Permanent Glacier Oscillation Service (PSFG) and the Temporary Technical Secretary / World Glacier Description (TTS / WGI). This service belongs to the International Association of Cryospheric Sciences of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IACS, IUGG), as well as to the World Data System of the International Council for Science (WDS, ICSU ) and operates under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Program ( UNEP ), United Nations on education, science and culture ( UNESCO ) and the World Meteorological Organization ( WMO ).

VSML is based at the University of Zurich in Switzerland , and the director of the service is Michael Zemp with the support of the United Nations Environment . ^[one]

VSML collects standardized observations of glacier vibrations by such parameters as mass, volume, area and length of the glacier, as well as statistical information on the spatial distribution of permafrost. Glacier fluctuations and cadastral data are high priority in observing key variables for climate systems. They serve as the basis for hydrological modeling taking into account the possible effects of atmospheric warming and are fundamental in glaciology, glacial geomorphology and Quaternary geology . The longest and most complete observational data relate to the glaciers of the Alps and Scandinavia ; there are also a number of representative glaciers around the world, such as, for example, the Tuyuksu glacier in Central Asia .

In close collaboration with the American National Snow and Ice Research Center (NSIDC) and the Global Continental Ice Observational Space Observation Initiative (GLIMS), VSML is responsible for the GTOS / GCOS Global Terrestrial Glacier Network (GTN-G). GTN-G is a combination of field observations from remote sensing data, understanding of processes with a global reach and traditional measurements using new technologies using a multi-level integrated strategy " ^[2]