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 […]

News Briefing, 2 August 2024 East Antarctica is currently experiencing a heatwave in the middle of winter of up to 28°C above normal. This is the second major heat wave to afflict the region in the past two years, and is expected to persist for another 10 days. Temperatures remain at around -20°C, driven by […]

In this presentation given during an “Arctic 21” science-policy briefing earlier this year, Dr. Jonathan Wille decodes the record-busting March 2022 East Antarctica heat wave, including its impact on the Antarctic ice sheet. This extreme heat event saw numerous March temperature records broken, with unprecedented coastal rain and melting, and temperatures 30°–40°C above average in […]

Geophysical Research Letters, 17 July 2024 Arctic sea ice has been called the “Earth’s refrigerator,” cooling the planet by reflecting the sun’s rays. Its area (or extent) has been decreasing for several decades, but the degree to which this has impacted sea ice’s cooling effect has been debated, for example because some models have shown […]

The Cryosphere, 22 May 2024 Glacier volume has decreased by 8% across the Andes since 2010, with snow and ice melt producing up to 40% more runoff in the tropical and dry regions fed by the Central Andes compared to the prior decade. This study incorporates local climate data from diverse regions to more accurately […]