Nature Geoscience, 24 November 2025 The Prudhoe Dome ice cap in northern Greenland completely melted 7,000 years ago and was ice-free until a few thousand years ago, indicating that parts of the Greenland Ice Sheet disappeared when global mean temperatures were actually cooler than today (about 0.3°C cooler than the 2011-19 average, according to IPCC […]

Nature Communications, 5 December 2025 Very high emissions will trigger large-scale Antarctic ice sheet retreat over coming centuries, while net-zero emissions well before 2100 would strongly reduce multi-centennial ice loss. This study combines ice sheet models and accounts for multiple sources of uncertainty, grounding them in historical observations to more accurately estimate future sea-level rise […]

Ice loss from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets has quadrupled since the 1990s. This has raised concerns about their future stability and focused attention on the temperature thresholds that might trigger more rapid retreat or even collapse, with renewed calls to meet the more ambitious target of the Paris Climate Agreement and limit warming […]

Thank You for 2025! From the launch of the International Year of Glaciers Preservation during January and March in Geneva, Paris, and New York; to Sagarmatha Sambaad in Kathmandu and the International Glaciers’ Conference in Dushanbe during May; through SB62 in Bonn, UNGA Climate Week in New York, and COP30 in Belém; and across dozens […]

Nature Climate Change, 15 December 2025 Glacier loss is projected to rapidly increase this century, peaking between 2040 and 2055, when up to 2,000 glaciers per year could disappear even if warming is limited to 1.5°C. However, up to 4,000 glaciers per year could disappear under 4.0°C warming. This peak rate under high emissions is […]

Nature Communications, 6 November 2025 The amount of sunlight entering the Arctic Ocean will likely increase by 50-77% over coming decades as sea ice cover declines, but a high emissions scenario could push this system even further, past a threshold after 2050 if sea ice levels collapse. With such extreme sea ice loss, increased light […]

Immediately reducing emissions of super pollutants – short-lived climate forcers – is the best option to avoid runaway Arctic warming and remain below 1.5°C. Methane, ozone and black carbon are responsible for a significant proportion of global warming to date, yet black carbon emissions from shipping remain unregulated, and liquified natural gas (methane) is marketed […]

Nature Geoscience, 3 November 2025 In a stunning two-month period from November to December 2022, nearly 50% of Hektoria Glacier in the Antarctic Peninsula disintegrated, and nearly 10 times faster than any glacier ever observed, a warning sign this could happen to other large Antarctic glaciers. Satellite data showed that the glacier began rapidly thinning […]

Nature, 29 October 2025 Southern Ocean warming could lead to 60% of Antarctic ice shelves disappearing by 2300 under a very high emissions scenario, but remaining below 2°C would allow nearly all ice shelves to remain stable and whole. This study forecasts the long-term health of the floating margins of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Rising […]

Nature Geoscience, 18 November 2025 Small underwater eddies contribute to nearly a fifth of total Antarctic ice shelf melting each season, but during extreme events this submarine melting can increase by as much as three-fold within hours as warm water penetrates beneath the ice. Similar to hurricanes and other large storms generated in the open […]

Lead authors from the Nature paper covered in last week’s Capsules described how changes in Antarctica can trigger fast and cascading impacts, often with global consequences. Multiple abrupt changes in the Antarctic environment are now unfolding – spanning Antarctica’s ice, ocean and ecosystems – and the interconnections between these systems amplify the risks of exceeding […]

Dear Capsule Readers- After a several-week break during the COP30 and pre-COP preparations, the Cryosphere Capsules are back! In addition to recent policy-relevant cryosphere science summaries, we’ll be catching up with articles missed in October-November especially. In addition, look for Cryosphere Pavilion summaries and links to recordings of side events that could not be livestreamed […]

Nature Communications, 21 October 2025 Berry Glacier in West Antarctica has undergone dramatic retreat and thinning over the past three decades, driven by seawater intrusion beneath its ice shelf. This glacier feeds into the Getz Ice Shelf, which governs roughly 10% of the region’s ice discharge. Between 1996 and 2021, Berry Glacier retreated 18 kilometers […]

Nature, 20 August 2025 Rapid changes unfolding across the Antarctic Ice Sheet and Southern Ocean are more interconnected than previously understood, with shrinking sea ice, fast-melting glaciers, slowing ocean currents, and habitat loss increasingly pushing each other out of balance. This study draws connections between multiple abrupt changes that began to occur in Antarctica over […]

Dear Friends of the Cryosphere Pavilion and Cryosphere Capsule Readers- As many of you no doubt saw on media, a fire interrupted COP30 on Thursday afternoon, Nov. 20, including the opening remarks of Iceland Minister for the Environment, Energy and Climate Jóhann Páll Jóhannsson at the Cryosphere Pavilion, in a side event focused on latest […]