Calving Front Dataset for Marine-Terminating Glaciers in Svalbard 1985-2023, v2

  • Tian Li (Creator)
  • Konrad Heidler (Creator)
  • Lichao Mou (Creator)
  • Adam Igneczi (Creator)
  • Xiao Xiang Zhu (Creator)
  • Jonathan L Bamber (Creator)

Dataset

Description

Svalbard has experienced increased climate variability as a result of global warming, leading to significant mass loss in its marine-terminating glaciers over recent decades. Nevertheless, the mechanisms driving this mass loss remain less understood, primarily due to a limited understanding of calving dynamics. Here we present a new high-resolution calving front dataset of 149 marine-terminating glaciers in Svalbard, comprising 124919 glacier calving front positions during the period of 1985-2023. This dataset was generated using a novel automated deep learning framework and multiple optical and SAR satellite images from Landsat, Terra-ASTER, Sentinel-2, and Sentinel-1 satellite missions. The information regarding the glacier calving front terminal traces, glacier centrelines, glacier domains, and the along-centreline glacier calving front change time series is consolidated into a single Geopackage file named "Svalbard_Calving_Front_Product.gpkg." The specific file structure for this data file is detailed in Table 1, and the feature attribute table for the different data layers recorded in this data file can be found in Table 2. Furthermore, we have included spatial distribution map plots of the glacier calving front traces and line plots depicting the time series of calving front changes for each individual glacier. These plots are provided in .PNG file format and can be accessed within the Figures folder. Table 1. The layer structure of the Svalbard calving front data product. Layer Name Details traces Line geometries recording the terminal traces of all the glaciers (EPSG:3995). centrelines Line geometries recording the glacier centrelines used in calving front change estimation (EPSG:3995). domains Polygon geometries recording the glacier domains (EPSG:3995). front_change_time_series Point geometries recording the along-centreline glacier calving front change time series (EPSG:4326). Table 2. The feature attribute table of the data layer. Data Field Description Glacier The Randolph Glacier Inventory (RGI) version 6 (RGI Consortium, 2017) glacier id. Sensor The satellite platform used in mapping glacier calving front, including “Landsat”, “Terra-ASTER”, “Sentinel2” and “Sentinel1”. ImageId The image id of the satellite image used in mapping the glacier calving front. DateString The datetime string of the satellite image in the format of “YYYYMMDD”. CFL_Change The calving front location (CFL) changes in meters along the glacier centreline in relation to the earliest calving front location in the time series. glacier_lat The latitude of the glacier location (WGS84 coordinate system). glacier_lon The longitude of the glacier location (WGS84 coordinate system).
Date made available2023
PublisherZenodo

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