The Greenland Ice-Marginal Lake Inventory Series from 2016 to 2023

Abstract. The Greenland Ice Sheet and its surrounding peripheral glaciers and ice caps are projected to be the largest cryospheric contributor to sea level rise in the next century. While glacial meltwater is typically assumed to flow directly into the ocean, ice-marginal lakes temporarily store a portion of this runoff, influencing glacier dynamics, lacustrine-driven ablation, ecosystems, and downstream hydrology. The size, abundance and dynamics of ice-marginal lakes are expected to change in the future. However, they remain under-represented in projections of sea level change and glacier mass loss. Here, we provide eight annual records across Greenland of lake abundance, lake surface extents, and surface water temperature estimates from 2016 to 2023. The dataset catalogs 2918 automatically classified ice-marginal lakes and reveals their evolving conditions over time. Our dataset fills critical gaps in understanding Greenland’s terrestrial water storage and its implications for sea level change projections, providing a first step toward quantifying meltwater storage at ice margins. Equally important, it supports assessments of ice sheet and glacier dynamics, such as lacustrine-driven ablation, and Arctic ecological studies of lake changes impacting ecosystems. The inventory series will also aid environmental management and hydropower planning aligned with Greenland’s proposed commitments under the Paris Agreement. The inventory series is openly accessible on the GEUS Dataverse (https://doi.org/10.22008/FK2/MBKW9N) with full metadata, documentation, and a reproducible processing workflow (How et al., 2025).