DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15164571
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). This data set is based on manual surge identification in annual Sentinel-1 interferometric wide-swath (IW) satellite radar backscatter differences between 2017 and 2022 (Kääb et al. 2023). This has been updated in this database (version 3) by mapping more recent surges from winter-to-winter differences 2022-2023, 2023-2024, and 2024-2025 using new IW data. Before 2017, no Sentinel-1 IW data are available over Svalbard, and we use 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 extended wide-swath data (EW) instead, acknowledging that these coarser data (compared to IW) might lead to less detailed surge identification, or overlooking of surges of small glaciers or surges accompanied by only limited backscatter changes. Based on these additional data, we are also able to update some surge information contained in the original KA2023, for instance concerning surge start and end years, and by adding the last year of strongly enhanced backscatter (before backscatter reduction). The new 2015-2025 backscatter-derived surge inventory over Svalbard contains now 40 surging glaciers (the 2017-2022 KA2023 contained 26 surging glaciers). [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.