Dataset contains results of GPR survey performed with 800 MHz antennas for snow depth calculation. Fieldwork has been done during peak of accumulation, along repeated profiles on several glaciers in the region of Hornsund, Svalbard: Amundsenisen (2013) Werenskioldbreen (2013, 2014, 2015) Nannbreen (2013) Ariebreen (2014) Flatbreen (2018) Storbreen (2018) Acknowledgements: Research Council of Norway, Arctic Field Grant 2013: Spatial distribution of snow cover and drainage systems on the glaciers on Wedel Jarlsberg Land (RiS ID: 6158); the National Science Centre PRELUDIUM 4: Role of meltwater from snow cover for supplying drainage systems of the Spitsbergen glaciers (2012/07/N/ST10/03784); References: LASKA M.,GRABIEC M.,IGNATIUK D.,BUDZIK T.,2017. Snow deposition patterns on southern Spitsbergen glaciers, Svalbard, in relation to recent meteorological conditions and local topography. Geografiska Annaler, Series A: Physical Geography, 99(3): 262–287. doi:10.1080/04353676.2017.1327321

Time-lapse cameras In order to determine the state of coverage of the area, e.g. period of snow cover on a tundra, the extent of the glacier front, etc., it is necessary to perform photographic imaging at a specific time interval. This will allow for precise diagnosis of snow conditions. CRIOS – Cryosphere Integrated Observation Network on Svalbard Project financed from the EEA Financial Mechanism 2014-2021 operated by the National Science Centre in Poland Agreement no. UMO-2022/43/7/ST10/00001 to a predefined project no. 2022/43/7/ST10/00001 Project period: 08.09.2022 - 30.04.2024 (2029)

Dataset contains surface elevation along spring GPR profiles performed on Hansbreen and Werenskioldbreen. Fieldwork has been done with dGPS device in kinematic mode at the end of ablation season in 2013 and 2015 to compare it with spring GPR survey and calculate surface ablation. Acknowledgements: Research Council of Norway, Arctic Field Grant 2013: Spatial distribution of snow cover and drainage systems on the glaciers on Wedel Jarlsberg Land (RiS ID: 6158); the National Science Centre PRELUDIUM 4: Role of meltwater from snow cover for supplying drainage systems of the Spitsbergen glaciers (2012/07/N/ST10/03784)

Englacial water pressure was recorded by placing HOBO 250-Foot Depth Water Level Data Loggers in the center of Crystal Cave (N77°02' E15°34', 174 m) channel system (Hansbreen glacier). Data loggers were set to record values every 30 minutes, resampled to daily in post-processing, and have a resolution of 2.55 kPa for a typical error of 3.8 cm water level. Water pressure was converted in water level. Sensor was placed in the cave by drilling anchor points into the ice above a vertical shaft, then hanging cables down in the center of conduit. Stabilization cables were used to keep sensors from attaching to and freezing into ice walls by manually rappelling down to the sensor and attaching it to three horizontal cables, anchored into the ice walls at about 120 degrees apart. Senor was installed in Crystal Cave at about 100 m total distance from the cave entrance, in ice about 74 m thick. The sensor was installed 28 m above the glacier bed and 46 m below the ice surface.

Dataset contains detailed measurements of physical features of seasonal snow cover, according to International Classification of Seasonal Snow on the Ground (Fierz et al. 2009). Fieldwork has been done during peak of accumulation on several glaciers in the region of Hornsund, Svalbard: Amundsenisen (2013) Hansbreen (three sites; 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018) Werenskioldbreen (two sites; 2013, 2015) Nannbreen (2013) Ariebreen (2014) Acknowledgements: Research Council of Norway, Arctic Field Grant 2013: Spatial distribution of snow cover and drainage systems on the glaciers on Wedel Jarlsberg Land (RiS ID: 6158); the National Science Centre PRELUDIUM 4: Role of meltwater from snow cover for supplying drainage systems of the Spitsbergen glaciers (2012/07/N/ST10/03784) References: Laska M., Luks B., Budzik T., 2016. Influence of snowpack internal structure on snow metamorphism and melting intensity on Hansbreen, Svalbard. Polish Polar Research, 37(2): 193–218. doi:10.1515/popore-2016-0012 Laska M., Grabiec M., Ignatiuk D., Budzik T., 2017. Snow deposition patterns on southern Spitsbergen glaciers, Svalbard, in relation to recent meteorological conditions and local topography. Geografiska Annaler, Series A: Physical Geography, 99(3): 262–287 doi:10.1080/04353676.2017.1327321 Laska M., Barzycka B., Luks B., 2017. Melting Characteristics of Snow Cover on Tidewater Glaciers in Hornsund Fjord, Svalbard. Water, 9(10), 804. doi:10.3390/w9100804

Air temperature measurements from AWS located on the Werenskioldbreen. The sensors are installed on a mast that is mounted in the glacier ice. During the season, the distance between the glacier's surface and the sensors increases. The instruments are serviced at least once a year between March and April.

The internal structure of glaciers evolves primarily due to their thermal state, which is influenced by ongoing climate change. Radio-echo sounding is a technique that indirectly identifies water-saturated temperate ice (W-STI) and water-free ice (W-FI) within glaciers. A novel automatic image processing method based on local binarization has been developed to improve the accuracy and efficiency of identifying these layers. Applied to the Arctic glacier Hansbreen from 2007 to 2021, this technique revealed that the glacier’s internal structure evolved from a two-layer system to a nearly homogeneous structure composed mainly of temperate ice (Kachniarz et al. 2025). The dataset contains raw GPR data from 2007 - 2021 taken in the Hansbreen ablation zone used to identify the glacier's internal structure. The profiles are divided into two sections: upper and lower areas. The upper area includes GPR profiles intended to replicate the 2003 GPR profile. The lower area consists of profiles shifted down the glacier, corresponding to the glacier’s movement since 2003. The profile lengths range from 0.7 km to 1.7 km, with the 2016 lower and 2021 upper areas, respectively. In the first season (2007), the GPR profiles were situated at altitudes between 188 and 216 meters above sea level, running transversely to the glacier’s movement. The glacier’s internal structure was examined using GPR system with unshielded 25 MHz, Rough Terrain Antenna (RTA) 30 MHz, and RTA 50 MHz antennas. Image processing Python script based on local binarization and processed image examples have been included in the dataset. See details in Kachniarz et al. 2025. The field data collection and/or processing received grant aid from: Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIOS) (SnowInOpt: SIOS Infrastructure Optimisation of the Cal/Val process for the snow research), European Commission Horizon Europe HORIZON-CL5-2024-D1-01-02 (LIQUIDICE: LinkIng and QUantifying the Impacts of climate change on inlanD ICE, snow cover, and permafrost on water resources and society in vulnerable regions) 101184962, the National Centre for Research and Development within the Polish-Norwegian Research Cooperation Programme (AWAKE2 project Pol Nor/198675/17/2013), Polish-Norwegian funding (AWAKE project PNRF-22-AI-1/07), Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (GLACIODYN No. IPY/269/2006), PolishNational Centre for Research and Development (SvalGlac project No. NCBiR/PolarCLIMATE-2009/2-2/2010), European Union 7th Framework Programme (ice2sea programme, grant no. 226375. Glaciological data were processed under assessment of the University of Silesia data repository within project Integrated Arctic Observing System (INTAROS, European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme—grant No. 727890). The work was supported by the Centre for Polar Studies (the Leading National Research Centre in Earth Sciences for 2014–2018) funding, No. 03/KNOW2/2014. Reference: Kachniarz K., Grabiec M., Wróbel K., Ignatiuk D. 2025: Glacier internal structure revealed by automatic image processing-powered classification of radar images. Applied Geomatics (in review)

The position of the terminus of Hansbreen is derived with very high frequency in the period 1991–2015. Over 160 multispectral and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data were used: LANDSAT 5, LANDSAT 7, LANDSAT 8, Terra ASTER, Alos AVNIR, SPOT 5, ERS-1, ERS-2, ENVISAT, Alos PALSAR, TerraSAR-X, TanDEM-X, and Sentinel-1. Terra ASTER images were orthorectified with use of 2008 DEM SPOT and geocoded in PCI Geomatica and ArcGIS software. Multispectral, already terrain-corrected images were rectified in ArcGIS software. SAR data were provided at the Single Look Complex level and that both radiometric and geometric corrections were applied using the same methods, and with the same digital elevation model (2008 DEM SPOT). The SAR data were processed in BEAM (http://www.brockmann-consult.de/cms/web/beam). Sentinel data downloaded from the Sentinel’s Data Hub were already processed. The satellite data were digitized manually to obtain the front position. The database is the supplement to the paper: Małgorzata Błaszczyk, Jacek A. Jania, Michał Ciepły, Mariusz Grabiec, Dariusz Ignatiuk, Leszek Kolondra, Aleksandra Kruss, Bartłomiej Luks, Mateusz Moskalik, Tadeusz Pastusiak, Agnieszka Strzelewicz, Waldemar Walczowski, Tomasz Wawrzyniak. “Factors controlling terminus position of Hansbreen, a tidewater glacier in Svalbard”, Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JF005763.

Air temperature is provided by AWS 4 (N77°02' E15°38', 183 m). Air temperature comes from a Campbell Scientific 107 sensor at +/- 0.1° C resolution and sampled every 10 minutes, averaged to daily resolution in post-processing.

The ortophotomap of Hornsund Fiord with changes to the front positions of tidewater glaciers. The front positions are based on different cartographical maps and satellite data. The base map is Sentinel 2 satellite image acquired on 6 July 2018. Citation: Kolondra L., 2018. Hornsund Fiord - Changes to the front positions of tidewater glaciers. University of Silesia, Faculty of Earth Sciences.