We present a new numerical procedure to assess the plausibility of a subglacial lake in case of relative small/moderate extension and surging temperate icefield. In addition to the flat signal from Ground Penetrating Radar remote survey of the area, early indication of a likely subglacial lake, required icefield data are: top surface elevation and bathymetry, top surface velocity at some points, in-depth temperature and density profiles of upper layer. The procedure is based on a mathematical model of the evolution of dynamics and thermo-dynamics of the icefield and of a subglacial lake.

. A guideline for an effective and efficient use of a deterministic variant of the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm is presented and discussed, assuming limited computational resources. PSO was introduced in Kennedy and Eberhart (1995) and successfully applied in many fields of engineering optimization for its ease of use. Its performance depends on three main characteristics: the number of swarm particles used, their initialization in terms of initial location and speed, and the set of coefficients defining the behavior of the swarm.