Ice thickness data from the upper Fedchenko Glacier, Pamir, measured by ground penetrating radar in 2016

The most extensive glacier system in the Pamir Mountains is Fedchenko Glacier in Tajikistan. Fedchenko Glacier covers an area of 745 km² (Lambrecht and others, 2014) and extends over a total length of 72 km. Ice thickness was determined from almost 30 km of low frequency radar data in the upper accumulation basin. A small pulse transmitter (Narod, Icefield Instruments Inc.) combined with resistively loaded dipole antennas (center frequency 5 MHz) acted as energy source, while the reflected electromagnetic waves were collected by identical dipole antennas and a digital oscilloscope with a sampling rate of 4 ns. Pulling the system across the snow surface resulted in a trace sampling frequency of about one trace every 2 to 4 meters. Combined errors from the radar measurements and geolocation were calculated according to the method described in Lapazaran and others (2016) and result to an error range of 8-18 m, depending on the total ice thickness. A first set of ice thickness profiles was collected in 2009 covering about 4.8 km in the upper accumulation area (Lambrecht and others, 2014). A more extensive survey was carried out in 2016 resulting in an additional 24.8 km of profiles in the same region. Ice thicknesses are provided in UTM 43N coordinates (X, Y, Z, ice tickness in m).