Due to global warming, Earth’s cryosphere is changing dramatically. Snow and ice are crucial for the world’s freshwater supply, ecosystems, agriculture, and human communities. Glaciers and snowpack are decreasing globally, contributing to glacial lake outburst flood risks. Mass loss from mountain glaciers and the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets significantly contributes to sea-level rise, with irreversible ice loss potentially locking in higher sea levels for centuries without a swift transition to zero-carbon economies. Arctic and Antarctic sea ice extent and thickness have both declined, potentially affecting global weather and ocean currents. Permafrost thaw carbon emissions are increasing, impacting the global carbon budget; permafrost collapse also causes infrastructure damage. Polar oceans are rapidly acidifying, warming, and freshening, affecting high-latitude fisheries.

By bringing together leading Chinese and international cryosphere scientists, this international workshop focused on the latest scientific results in understanding cryosphere changes under global warming, and the impacts of current and projected cryosphere loss across the planet. The workshop included panel discussions on research gaps and future perspectives in the light of the Paris Agreement, highlighted ways in which cryosphere science informs and contributes to the Seventh IPCC Assessment Cycle (AR7), and explored effective approaches to communicating cryosphere changes with policymakers.

Topics

The workshop discussed:

– Impact of global warming on the Earth’s cryosphere and sea-level rise
– Decline in snowpack and ice mass from glaciers and polar ice sheets
– Rapid changes in Arctic and Antarctic sea ice extent and thickness
– Increasing permafrost thaw emissions and associated hazard
– Communicating science to policymakers

Workshop Program and Speakers

The program and a full list of speakers can be found below.

Organizing Committees

– China Society of Cryospheric Science (CSCS)
– Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science and Frozen Soil Engineering (KLCSFSE), Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources (NIEER), CAS
– International Cryosphere Climate Initiative (ICCI)
– Chinese National Committee for International Association of Cryospheric Sciences (CNC-IACS)
– Commission on Cryospheric Science and Sustainable Development, Geographical Society of China (GSC)

Full Program

If you have any questions, we welcome you to contact Mengzhu Zhang at mengzhu@iccinet.org or Miriam Jackson at miriam@iccinet.org.

Thursday, September 12

9:30-21:30 Registration Desk Open

19:00 Pre-conference Welcome Dinner

Friday, September 13

8:00 Day-of Registration

8:30-9:00 Welcome and Keynotes
Moderator: Shichang Kang
    Dahe Qin, IPCC Co-Chair AR4 and AR5
    Georg Kaser, University of Innsbruck, IPCC Lead Author AR5, SROCC, AR6

9:00-10:40 Session 1: Mountain Glaciers and Snow Cover
Moderators: Georg Kaser and Tao Che
    Keynote: Long-term glacier evolution under different levels of global warming | Ben Marzeion
    Keynote: Cryosphere science: Towards regional sustainable development | Shichang Kang
    Remote sensing of snow cover over the Tibetan Plateau | Tao Che
    Glacier Projects in the HKH Region | Mohan Chand
    Land-atmosphere interaction and its effects on the weather and climate of the Tibetan Plateau | Yaoming Ma
    Projected and observed changes of organic carbon transport are alarming for glaciers of the Third Pole | Hewen Niu
Panel Discussion/Q&A

10:40-11:00 Coffee Break & Group Photo

11:00-12:30 Session 2: Ice Sheets and Sea-Level Rise
Moderators: Rob DeConto and Chen Zhao
    Keynote: Antarctica, sea-level rise and the Paris Agreement | Rob DeConto
    Keynote: Reconciled estimation of Antarctic ice sheet mass balance and contribution to global sea level change from 1996-2021 | Rongxing Li
    Can stabilizing sea-level effects save the West Antarctic Ice Sheet? Insights from projections for the coming centuries | Holly Han
    Subglacial water amplifies Antarctic contributions to sea-level rise | Chen Zhao
    Evaluation of eight geothermal heat flow maps for Totten Glacier using specularity content | Liyun Zhao
    Surface and basal melt of the Antarctic ice shelves | Chunxia Zhou
    Geothermal heat flow basal boundary condition during Greenland ice sheet spins up | Tong Zhang
    Ice core signals of abrupt retreat of the Ronne Ice Shelf in the early Holocene | Bella Rowell 
Panel Discussion/Q&A

12:30 Lunch (Hotel Restaurant)

14:00-15:30 Session 3: Permafrost: Threats of Emissions and Infrastructure
Moderators: Gustaf Hugelius and Lin Zhao
    Keynote: Some issues in research on permafrost-related datasets and model construction on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau | Lin Zhao
    Keynote: The permafrost climate feedback, with emissions not yet included in global projections | Gustaf Hugelius
    Threat of permafrost degradation to transportation infrastructures on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau | Fujun Niu
    Changing southern/lower limits of permafrost in Northeast China | Huijun Jin
    Lake outburst threat in permafrost regions and engineering solutions | Yanhu Mu
    Global warming enhanced winter CO2 emissions in the Northern Hemisphere permafrost regions | Cuicui Mu
    Permafrost distribution, change and economic damage on infrastructure in Qinghai-Tibet plateau | Youhua Ran
Panel Discussion/Q&A

15:30-16:00 Coffee Break

16:00-17:30 Session 4: Sea Ice
Moderators: Fei Huang and Robbie Mallett
    Keynote: Sea ice from coasts to open ocean: Tracking and communicating change | Twila Moon
   Keynote: Postponement of decadal shift of the Arctic sea ice in the Eurasian sector than in the Greenland sector | Fei Huang
   Changing sea ice in the Arctic’s Northeast Passage | Robbie Mallett
   Arctic sea ice change, impact, and prediction | Jiping Liu
   Status quo and challenges for satellite remote sensing of Antarctic sea ice mass balance | Shiming Xu
Panel Discussion/Q&A

17:45 “Chill” and Pre-dinner Panel Discussion for Early Career Scientists
Panel and Q&A with Cryosphere Pavilion ECS

19:00 Conference Dinner

Saturday, September 14

8:30-10:00 Session 5: Polar Oceans: Acidification, Warming, Freshening, Current Perturbance
Moderators: Richard Bellerby and Cunde Xiao
    Keynote: Triple threat to polar oceans | Helen Findlay
    Newly reconstructed Arctic surface air temperatures for 1979-2021 with deep learning method | Yong Luo
    Keynote: Arctic Barents-Kara seas (BKS) as a key origin of multiple disasters of North Hemisphere | Cunde Xiao
    Tropical ocean contribute to Antarctic climate change | Xichen Li
    Drivers of the Southern Ocean temperature and salinity changes under anthropogenic warming | Kewei Lyu
    Response of Ross Sea Shelf water properties to enhanced Amundsen Sea ice shelf melting | Zhaoru Zhang
    Adjoint-based Arctic Ocean and sea ice reanalysis | Guokun Lyu
Panel Discussion/Q&A

10:00-10:30 Summary of Latest Cryosphere Findings Since AR6
   Preview: 2024 State of the Cryosphere Report | James Kirkham
Q&A

10:30-11:00 Coffee Break

11:00-11:45 Communicating Complex Cryosphere Science to Public and Policy Worlds
Moderator: Shichang Kang
   Keynote: Turning data into impact: How to make climate science resonate | Heidi Sevestre
Panel Discussion: Heidi Sevestre, Rob DeConto, Qianggong Zhang, Chen Zhao, Twila Moon

11:45-12:15 Cryosphere and Looking Towards COP29
Pam Pearson, ICCI and JiaoJiao Hu, Memory of Glaciers

12:15-12:30 Closing Remarks

12:30: Closing Lunch

Speakers

Opening Session

Shichang Kang
Director at State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science, CAS | Vice Director of the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, CAS

Moderator

Qin Dahe
Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences | IPCC Co-Chair AR4 and AR5

Georg Kaser
University of Innsbruck | IPCC Lead Author AR4, AR5, and Review Editor SROCC, AR6 | Funding President of the International Association for Cryospheric Science IUGG-IACS

International Speakers

Richard Bellerby
Norwegian Institute for Water Research | SKLEC-NIVA Centre for Marine and Coastal Research, ECNU

Ben Marzeion
University of Bremen | IPCC Author SROCC

Mohan Chand
Cryosphere Society of Nepal (CSN) | RIMES for Africa and Asia | Kathmandu University

Rob DeConto
University of Massachusetts Amherst | IPCC Lead Author SROCC

Holly Han
NASA Postdoctoral Fellow

Gustaf Hugelius
Vice Director of the Bolin Centre of Climate Research, Stockholm University

Helen Findlay
Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML)

Twila Moon
Deputy Lead Scientist and Science Communication Liaison, NSIDC | Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder

Robbie Mallett
Postdoctoral research fellow, UiT The Arctic University of Norway

James Kirkham
Ambition on Melting Ice (AMI) Chief Science Advisor

Heïdi Sevestre
Antarctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP)

Pam Pearson
Director, International Cryosphere Climate Initiative

Senior Chinese Speakers

Tao Che
Director of the Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Science Research Office, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, CAS

Yaoming Ma
Deputy Director of Institute Tibetan Plateau Research, CAS

Kun Yang
Professor, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University

Ninglian Wang
Professor, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Northwest University

Junfeng Wei
School of Resource & Environment and Safety Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology

Rongxing Li
Academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences | Professor, College of Surveying and Geo-informatics, Tongji University

Chen Zhao
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania

Liyun Zhao
Associate Professor, College of Global Change and Earth System Science, Beijing Normal University

Chunxia Zhou
Professor, Chinese Antarctic Center of Surveying and Mapping, Wuhan University

Tong Zhang
Associate Professor, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University

Lin Zhao
Professor, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology

Fujun Niu
Shanghai Normal University

Huijun Jin
Professor, School of Civil Engineering, Northeast Forestry University

Yanhu Mu
Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, CAS

Cuicui Mu
Professor, Management Center of Scientific Observing Stations, Lanzhou University

Youhua Ran
Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, CAS

Cunde Xiao
Director of State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University

Yong Luo
Professor, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University | Coordinating Lead Author in IPCC AR6

Xichen Li
Institute of Atmospheric Physics, CAS

Guokun Lyu
Polar Research Institute of China, Ministry of Natural Resources

Libao Gao
First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources

Guijun Guo
First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources

Fei Huang
Professor, College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, Ocean University of China

Jiping Liu
Professor, School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University

Shiming Xu
Associate Professor, Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University

Qianggong Zhang
Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, CAS

JiaoJiao Hu
Founder of Polar Hub

Hewen Niu
Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, CAS

Kewei Lyu
Professor, Xiamen University

Zhaoru Zhang
Associate Professor, Shanghai Jiao Tong University