---
DOAJ_listed: '1'
OA_place: publisher
OA_type: gold
PlanS_conform: '1'
_id: '20546'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: Rocky debris covers around 7.3 % of the global glacier area, influencing ice
melt rates and the surface mass balance of glaciers, making the dynamics and hydrology
of debris-covered glaciers distinct from those of clean-ice glaciers. Accurate
representation of debris in models is challenging, as measurements of the physical
properties and thickness of the supraglacial debris layer are scarce. Here, we
compile a database of measured and reported bulk physical properties and layer
thicknesses of supraglacial debris that we call the supraglacial Debris Database
(DebDaB) and that is open to community submissions. The majority of the database
(90 %) is compiled from 172 sources in the literature, and the remaining 10 %
was previously unpublished. DebDaB contains 8741 data entries for supraglacial
debris layer thickness, of which 1770 entries also include sub-debris ablation
rates, 179 thermal conductivity of debris, 160 aerodynamic surface roughness length,
79 debris albedo, 59 debris emissivity, and 37 debris porosity. The data are distributed
over 84 glaciers in 13 regions in the Global Terrestrial Network for Glaciers.
We show regional differences in the distribution of debris thickness measurements
in DebDaB and fit simplified Østrem curves to 19 glaciers with sufficient debris
thickness and ablation data. The data in DebDaB can be used for energy balance,
melt, and surface mass balance studies by incorporating site-specific debris properties
or for evaluation of remote sensing estimates of debris thickness and surface
roughness. They can also help future field campaigns on debris-covered glaciers
by identifying observation gaps. DebDaB's uneven spatial coverage points to sampling
biases in community efforts to observe debris-covered glaciers, with some regions
(e.g. central Europe and South Asia) well-sampled but others having gaps with
prevalent debris (e.g. the Andes and Alaska). Debris thickness measurements are
mostly concentrated at lower elevations, leaving higher-elevation debris-covered
areas undersampled and suggesting that our knowledge of debris properties might
not be representative of all elevations. The aims of DebDaB, as an openly available
dataset, are to evolve over time, to be updated, and to add to community submissions
as new data on supraglacial properties become available. The data described in
this paper can be accessed from Zenodo at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14224835
(Groeneveld et al., 2025).
acknowledgement: "This work was supported by SNF project RENOIR (“Resolving the thickness
of debris on Earth’s glaciers and its rate of change”; grant no. 204322). This project
received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s
Horizon 2020 research and\r\ninnovation programme (grant no. 772751; RAVEN: “Rapid
mass losses of debris covered glaciers in High Mountain Asia”). The authors acknowledge
DCGWG of IACS for setting the stage and bringing together the debris-covered glacier
community to focus on broader needs transcending a specific research topic and for
starting the Zenodo community on debris-covered glaciers, where this database is
hosted. The authors thank Achim A. Beylich (topical editor), Ken\r\nMankoff (chief
editor), Morgan Jones (reviewer), and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive
feedback, comments, and discussions on the database and paper."
article_processing_charge: Yes
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Adrià
full_name: Fontrodona-Bach, Adrià
id: f06891fd-9f42-11ee-8632-a20971c43046
last_name: Fontrodona-Bach
- first_name: Lars
full_name: Groeneveld, Lars
last_name: Groeneveld
- first_name: Evan
full_name: Miles, Evan
last_name: Miles
- first_name: Michael
full_name: McCarthy, Michael
id: 22a2674a-61ce-11ee-94b5-d18813baf16f
last_name: McCarthy
- first_name: Thomas
full_name: Shaw, Thomas
id: 3caa3f91-1f03-11ee-96ce-e0e553054d6e
last_name: Shaw
orcid: 0000-0001-7640-6152
- first_name: Juan Vicente
full_name: Melo Velasco, Juan Vicente
id: 2611dec0-b9c6-11ed-9bea-a81c2b17a549
last_name: Melo Velasco
- first_name: Francesca
full_name: Pellicciotti, Francesca
id: b28f055a-81ea-11ed-b70c-a9fe7f7b0e70
last_name: Pellicciotti
orcid: 0000-0002-5554-8087
citation:
ama: 'Fontrodona-Bach A, Groeneveld L, Miles E, et al. DebDaB: A database of supraglacial
debris thickness and physical properties. Earth System Science Data. 2025;17(8):4213-4234.
doi:10.5194/essd-17-4213-2025'
apa: 'Fontrodona-Bach, A., Groeneveld, L., Miles, E., McCarthy, M., Shaw, T., Melo
Velasco, J. V., & Pellicciotti, F. (2025). DebDaB: A database of supraglacial
debris thickness and physical properties. Earth System Science Data. Copernicus
Publications. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-4213-2025'
chicago: 'Fontrodona-Bach, Adrià, Lars Groeneveld, Evan Miles, Michael McCarthy,
Thomas Shaw, Juan Vicente Melo Velasco, and Francesca Pellicciotti. “DebDaB: A
Database of Supraglacial Debris Thickness and Physical Properties.” Earth
System Science Data. Copernicus Publications, 2025. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-4213-2025.'
ieee: 'A. Fontrodona-Bach et al., “DebDaB: A database of supraglacial debris
thickness and physical properties,” Earth System Science Data, vol. 17,
no. 8. Copernicus Publications, pp. 4213–4234, 2025.'
ista: 'Fontrodona-Bach A, Groeneveld L, Miles E, McCarthy M, Shaw T, Melo Velasco
JV, Pellicciotti F. 2025. DebDaB: A database of supraglacial debris thickness
and physical properties. Earth System Science Data. 17(8), 4213–4234.'
mla: 'Fontrodona-Bach, Adrià, et al. “DebDaB: A Database of Supraglacial Debris
Thickness and Physical Properties.” Earth System Science Data, vol. 17,
no. 8, Copernicus Publications, 2025, pp. 4213–34, doi:10.5194/essd-17-4213-2025.'
short: A. Fontrodona-Bach, L. Groeneveld, E. Miles, M. McCarthy, T. Shaw, J.V. Melo
Velasco, F. Pellicciotti, Earth System Science Data 17 (2025) 4213–4234.
corr_author: '1'
date_created: 2025-10-27T08:21:22Z
date_published: 2025-08-29T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2025-12-01T15:05:58Z
day: '29'
ddc:
- '550'
department:
- _id: FrPe
doi: 10.5194/essd-17-4213-2025
external_id:
isi:
- '001560847000001'
file:
- access_level: open_access
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creator: dernst
date_created: 2025-10-27T08:38:40Z
date_updated: 2025-10-27T08:38:40Z
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intvolume: ' 17'
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language:
- iso: eng
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
month: '08'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
page: 4213-4234
publication: Earth System Science Data
publication_identifier:
issn:
- 1866-3516
publication_status: published
publisher: Copernicus Publications
quality_controlled: '1'
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title: 'DebDaB: A database of supraglacial debris thickness and physical properties'
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legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)
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type: journal_article
user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
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...