Bakaninbreen, southern Svalbard, began a prolonged surge during 1985. In 19
86, an internal reflecting horizon on radio echo sounding data was interpre
ted to show that the position of the surge front coincided with a transitio
n between areas of warm (unfrozen) and cold (frozen) bed. Ground-penetratin
g radar lines run in 1996 and 1998 during early quiescence show that the ba
sal region of the g-lacier is characterized by a strong reflection, interpr
eted as the top of a thick layer of sediment-rich basal ice. Down glacier o
f the present surge front, features imaged beneath the basal reflection are
interpreted as the bottom of the basal ice layer, the base of a permafrost
layer, and local ice lenses. This indicates that this region of the bed is
cold. Up glacier of the surge front, a scattering zone above the basal ref
lection is interpreted as warm ice. There is no evidence for this warm zone
down glacier of the surge front, nor do we see basal permafrost up glacier
of it. Thus, as in early surge phase, the location of the surge front is n
ow at the transition between warm and cold ice at the glacier bed. We sugge
st that the propagation of the front is associated with this basal thermal
transition throughout the surge. Because propagation of the front occurs ra
pidly and generates only limited heat, basal motion during fast flow must h
ave been restricted to a,thin layer at the bed and occurred by sliding or d
eformation localized at the ice-bed interface.