Glacier inventories

In Italy, the Comitato Glaciologico Italiano, in collaboration with the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, (the Italian National Research Council) published the Italian Glacier Inventory in the years between 1959 and 1962, and up-dated it in 1989. It is a fundamental document that clearly shows the situation of Italian glaciers and is complete with historical data and images of great importance. In many other countries where research about glaciology has ancient traditions dating as far back as the 19th century, similar detailed compilations regarding national glaciers exist (for example in Switzerland, Norway, Austria, the ex-USSR and Canada). From 1970 all these data flow into an international inventory, promoted by UNESCO and by the International Association of Scientific Hydrology, that has founded the World Glacier Monitoring Service, based in Zurich. The World Glacier Inventory is the most up-dated document regarding the world glacier situation.