DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.14887117
title: Svalbard Surge Database 2024 (RGI2000-v7.0-G-07)

description: We have developed a new database of surge-type glaciers in Svalbard by combining existing compilations and reviewing studies examining their dynamics. Our database is based upon the Global Land and Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) database (König et al. 2014), which is now incorporated into RGI 7.0 (RGI 7.0 Consortium 2023) and consists of 1,583 glaciers in Svalbard. Therefore, the first five fields come from the RGI 7.0 database:



rgi_id: Glacier ID from RGI database.

glims_id: Glacier ID from GLIMS database.

cenlon: Longitude of glacier centre point.

cenlat: Latitude of glacier centre point.

glac_name: Name of glacier.


Our compilation of existing Svalbard-wide glacier surge databases is sourced from several studies: Lefauconnier and Hagen (1991) [LH1991]; Hagen et al. (1993) [H1993]; Sevestre and Benn (2015) [SB2015]; Farnsworth et al. (2016) [F2016]; Kääb et al. (2023) [KA2023]; and Koch et al. (2023) [KO2023]. The compilation of LH1991 only covers eastern Svalbard and is focused on marine-terminating glaciers but is included as it contains several important details on surge characteristics. H1993 is the original database of glaciers across Svalbard and similarly contains details of historical surges. The current RGI 7.0 database defines the “surge status” of each glacier according to Sevestre and Benn (2015): no evidence of surging (0); possible surge (1), probably surge (2), and observed surge (3). Where the SB2015 database does not have corresponding evidence from one of the other compilations, we determine the glaciers surge status to be ‘undefined’ and do not include it in the S_All field. The F2016 compilation was manually translated into the RGI 7.0 database. The glacier names described in F2016 often referred to tributaries which are now combined into single glacier catchments (e.g., Nuddbreen / Strongbreen), hence we manually combined these entries. The recent compilations from KA2023 and KO2023 were manually transcribed from tables in PDF files. The subsequent eight fields document each compilation:



SB2015: Surge database from Sevestre and Benn (2015). [0-3]

F2016: Surge database from Farnsworth et al. (2016). [0-1]

H1993: Surge database from Hagen et al. (1993). [0-1]

LH1991: Surge database from Lefauconnier and Hagen (1991). [0-1]

KA2023: Surge observations from Kääb et al. (2023). [0-1]

KO2023: Surge observations from Koch et al. (2023). [0-1]

Other: Surge observations from other literature sources. [0-1]

S_Direct: All surges that have been directly observed. [0-1]

S_Indirect: All surges that have been indirectly observed e.g. from palaeo-glaciological analysis. [0-1]

S_All: All surges that have been either directly observed or inferred from the palaeo-glaciological record. [0-1]


Contemporary and palaeo-glaciological evidence of surges is generally limited to the period ~1850–present, which broadly corresponds to the end of the LIA through to the modern-day. Where multiple surges have been recorded, we separate these using “;” in the database, and use “n/a” where the details of the surge have not been recorded. Surges have been classified as a binary 0 (not surge-type) or 1 (surge-type), with the exception of the Sevestre and Benn (2015) database as described above.

The subsequent eight fields document (if known) the following characteristics for each glacier in Svalbard:



S_Onset: Surge Onset (Year)

S_Term: Surge Termination (Year)

S_Act_Vel: Max Active-Phase Velocity (m/d)

S_Qui_Vel: Mean Quiescence Velocity (m/d)

S_Term_Ch: Terminus Change (m)


Here, we use 'n/a' for glaciers with no evidence of surging, whilst 'Not observed' is used where we have not observed any of the above characteristics for a glacier with evidence of surging.

The final column contains references to where surges have been reported.