Global database of glacier failures (1900–2025)

Abstract. Glacier failures, including ice avalanches, glacier detachments, and rock-ice avalanches associated with glacier structural instability, are gravity-driven failures of glacier ice on mountain slopes. These events can initiate cascading processes with significant downstream impacts on populations and infrastructure. Ongoing atmospheric warming alters glacier geometry, thickness, and basal conditions, affecting the frequency, distribution, and mechanisms of glacier-related failures. Cataloging glacier failures is therefore important for hazard assessment in mountain regions undergoing rapid change. However, observational records are limited, and most studies focus on individual events. Beyond local-scale studies, triggers and impacts have not been systematically documented or analyzed, and events are rarely linked to their source glaciers through existing glacier inventories. To address this issue, we present a global database of glacier failures across all mountain regions outside Greenland and Antarctica, spanning 1900 to 2025. The database was compiled from scientific articles, technical reports, hazard inventories, and verified media sources. It includes 502 events from 228 glaciers across 11 Randolph Glacier Inventory regions and links each hazardous glacier to its inventory ID. The database contains 25 attributes describing event location, timing, type, reported triggers, and downstream impacts. The spatio-temporal analysis shows a strong reporting bias, with most events concentrated in well-monitored territories, although actual differences in hazard types persist across regions. The analysis indicates two major shifts toward higher reported event counts, occurring in the mid-1960s and early 2010s. Glacier failures exhibit visible seasonal patterns, with a pronounced summer peak in the Northern Hemisphere and a weaker seasonal signal in the Southern Hemisphere, both of which are consistent with periods of high meltwater input. Triggers and environmental factors indicate that glacier failures often result from combinations of conditions rather than a single process, with meltwater acting as a key modulator. Reported impacts range from no consequences to high-mortality events, with large regional differences largely determined by downstream exposure. The database provides a basis for analysis of glacier failure patterns and supports hazard assessment under changing climatic conditions, and is publicly available at Zenodo [https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19477908] (Bashkova and Rupper, 2026).