The data set consists of digital elevation models (DEM) of subglacial topography, ice thickness, bathymetry and ice surface elevation of Kongsfjorden, northwestern Svalbard, near Ny-Ålesund (78.9 deg N, 12.4 deg E). The DEMs cover five tide-water glaciers with a grid size of 150 m. The data have a total area of ~1100 km^2 and cover the glaciers Blomstrandbreen, Conwaybreen, Kongsbreen, Kronebreen, and Kongsvegen, including the ice fields Holtedahlfonna and Isachsenfonna. A 50 m resolution DEM is also available for Kronebreen. The compiled data set covers one of the most studied regions in Svalbard and can be valuable for studies of glacier dynamics, geology, hydrology and fjord circulation. For further details see Lindbäck et al. (2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2018-37). If you use the data set in presentations and publications please also refer to the peer-reviewed paper (Lindbäck et al., 2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2018-37). The data set will be updated when the quality of the data is improved or if new data sets become available. File format: GeoTIFF and ASCII Spatial reference: WGS-1984 UTM Zone 33W Contact person: Jack Kohler (jack.kohler@npolar.no) This work was part of the TIGRIF (Tidewater Glacier Retreat Impact on Fjord circulation and ecosystems) project, funded by the Research Council of Norway.

Tidal glacier fronts in Svalbard are mapped using Landsat 8 orthorectified imagery. Fronts are determined for places where the ice is apparently in contact with seawater. This might not be 100% correct: there are some places where there may be sediment emerging, but if this can’t be seen clearly in the L8 image the glacier front is retained as being “in contact”, especially if it is only a short stretch.

Quantarctica is a collection of Antarctic geographical datasets which works with the free, cross-platform, open-source software QGIS. It includes community-contributed, peer-reviewed data from ten different scientific themes and a professionally-designed basemap.