Preceding the UNGA high-level General Debate on Sept. 24, this side event brought together cryosphere science and policy voices to explain how polar regions can be more strongly integrated into global climate conversation. Lead organizers included the Foundation Prince Albert II of Monaco, Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center, and the Woodwell Climate Research Institute as […]

The Cryosphere, 5 September 2024 Deep fractures in the Greenland Ice Sheet are less likely to refreeze and close at threshold temperatures well below freezing ( −8 °C), worsening the impacts of meltwater lake drainage events and destabilizing the ice as temperatures rise with global warming. Already today, crevasses splinter deep into the ice sheet and […]

Dr. Paul Bierman, Professor of Environmental Science at the University of Vermont, summarized his recent paper on ancient soil remains from an ice core taken at Summit Station, at nearly the highest point of the ice sheet (3 kilometers of ice). Fossils in the sediment reveal that this site was ice-free in Earth’s not-so-distant past, […]

Earth’s Future, 4 September 2024 An updated model comparison experiment (ISMIP6 Antarctica 2300) has provided the first multi-model and multi-century projections of Antarctic Ice Sheet loss to the year 2300. Using 16 different ice sheet models, authors highlight the sharp risk of triggering large increases in Antarctic ice loss accelerating after the year 2100 if […]

Nature Cities, 26 August 2024 Current measures taken by most coastal cities to adapt to climate change, especially in light of cryosphere-related impacts such as rising seas, extreme weather and flooding, are presently inadequate, according to this new study published in advance of the upcoming IPCC Special Report on Cities. Authors systematically evaluated the strategies […]

United Nations and WMO, 26 August 2024 In Tonga, UN Secretary-General António Guterres released a special briefing on sea-level rise alongside the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO’s) State of the Climate in the South-West Pacific 2023 Report. The UNSG’s brief summarizes the latest science on future sea level-rise at a global and regional level, with a […]

Global impacts, especially loss and damage, from cryosphere feedbacks will be largely permanent on human timescales, beyond adaptation limits for billions living in coastal or mountain-dependent regions if carbon emissions overshoot 1.5°C. This session outlined the latest science on projected feedbacks from ice sheets and glaciers in the context of implementation timeframes. Dr. Florence Colleoni […]

Science Advances, 21 August 2024 The collapse of ice shelves around Antarctica could expose tall ice cliffs at the edge of the ice sheet. Some models have shown that once the protective ice shelves are lost, these cliffs may fail structurally and collapse, leading to rapid ice loss and extremely fast rates of sea-level rise. […]

The Cryosphere, 15 August 2024 The Arctic contains one-fourth of the world’s glaciers, and this study detailed how rising temperatures are causing them to melt faster. Glaciers consist of compressed snow that accumulates over many years, turning into thick ice. Snowfall that accumulates on top of glacier ice also insulates it from summer melt. Researchers […]

Science Advances, August 4, 2024 A state-of-the-art ice sheet model predicting future sea-level rise shows that humanity may be able to kickstart strong stabilizing feedbacks that could greatly reduce Antarctic ice loss if rapid emissions reductions are taken within the next few years. The study showed that under low carbon emissions, rebounding areas of the […]

PNAS, August 5, 2024 The center of Greenland – currently buried under a 3-kilometer-thick sheet of ice – supported plant life indicating that it was completely ice-free even when CO2 concentrations were far lower than today’s levels, sometime within the past million years. The authors examined ancient remains of soil from the base of an […]

Dr. Alexander Bradley is an ice-ocean modeler at the British Antarctic Survey, and visiting research fellow at Kings College London. His research focuses on understanding how and why ice sheets change; past and future sea level rise; and the implications of a changing cryosphere on societies around the world. This August 1 presentation summarized his […]

Dear Friends of the Cryosphere Pavilion and Cryosphere Capsule Readers! The COP29 Cryosphere Pavilion side event application process for COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan (Nov. 11-22) is now open! In Baku, we plan to again carry forward the cryosphere’s message towards urgent ambition with another strong array of policy-relevant side events. Our assigned space this year […]

Nature Communications, 1 August 2024 Current climate policies are not ambitious enough to prevent tipping points from being crossed, even if long-term temperatures return to 1.5°C by 2300, new analysis shows. The authors investigated the risk of tipping where warming temporarily overshoots 1.5°C, but global temperatures are then brought back down using negative emissions technologies. […]

Science, 1 August 2024 The current rate of glacier ice loss in the tropical Andes is unprecedented in at least the last 11,700 years, according to a new study. Researchers measured rare nuclides (isotopes) created when high-energy cosmic rays interact with rocks exposed to sunlight at the margins of glaciers in the tropical Andes. Their […]