Rock glacier polygon inventory of SE Tibetan Plateau - v20251201

A comprehensive inventory of 9,543 rock glaciers was manually delineated for the southeastern Tibetan Plateau (28.1–33.5°N, 99.9–104.2°E), covering an area of ~2.1×10⁵ km². The mapping utilized high-resolution Google Earth imagery and 3D elevation models, adhering to established geomorphological criteria and IPA standards. Data quality, validated against expert assessments and a reference dataset, was high. Comparison with the automated TPRoGI inventory revealed 4,283 intersecting polygons with a 68% mean overlap relative to our data, highlighting significant omissions in the automated method. The rock glaciers display distinct characteristics: mean length of 601 m, mean area of 0.1 km², mean elevation of 4,558 m a.s.l., and mean slope of 20.8°, with a predominant north-northwest aspect. They exist under specific climatic conditions, including a mean annual air temperature of –3.2°C and annual precipitation of 769 mm. This high-quality dataset provides a robust benchmark for training automated mapping algorithms. It is crucial for estimating ground ice and freshwater storage, aiding water resource assessment in vulnerable high-mountain ecosystems. Furthermore, it supports geohazard evaluation related to permafrost degradation and rock glacier instability.

The rock glacier inventory is provided in a KML file named data-rginventory.kml. Each polygon represents a single rock glacier and is associated with a comprehensive list of attributes derived from open-source environmental datasets. A unique identifier for each rock glacier is assigned by combining the first five and six digits of its centroid's latitude and longitude coordinates. The attributes include fundamental geomorphic properties (latitude, longitude, area, width, length, length-to-width ratio, elevation, slope, aspect, curvature, relief, topographic position index, and potential incoming solar radiation), a subregion ID based on the associated mountain ridge, flowline direction, climatic conditions (mean annual, summer, and winter temperature and precipitation; mean annual land surface temperature; snow index; snow duration days; and fractional vegetation cover). Since version 2, a tuple field DLl containg the latitude and longitude of the centroid point is also included.