Nature Communications, 29 May 2026 The soils of Arctic river deltas store large amounts of carbon and nitrogen that have been locked away in frozen ground for thousands of years. This study estimates that these deltas contain 58 gigatons of carbon and 4 gigatons of nitrogen, despite covering less than 1% of the Arctic’s permafrost […]
Scientific Reports, 27 May 2026 Rising global temperatures increase the exposure of communities and infrastructure to floods and landslides in the Himalayas. This study found that 38% of urban settlements and more than 50% of hydropower facilities in India’s Baspa Basin are located in areas at high exposure to climate-related hazards. The greatest concern is […]
Global Environmental Change, 20 May 2026 In the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, reducing greenhouse gas emissions could nearly halve the area of permafrost experiencing “high or very high” ground instability by 2090, from about 85% under high emissions to around 50% under low emissions, helping protect critical infrastructure. As frozen ground thaws, it loses its strength and […]
Nature Sustainability, 4 May 2026 Sediment records from the Last Inter-Glacial (LIG) period suggest that when global temperatures were approximately 0.5-1.5°C warmer than pre-industrial levels in Earth’s past, coastal Louisiana experienced 7.5 meters of sea-level rise. These findings raise a clear warning signal for low-lying regions today. Coastal Louisiana is a ‘canary in the coal […]
NPJ Climate and Atmospheric Science, 20 May 2026 Human-caused warming has been the primary driver of winter Arctic sea-ice loss since 1980, accounting for most of the observed decline across large parts of the Arctic. Using climate observations from 1950-2024, researchers developed a new approach to distinguish the effects of anthropogenic climate change from those […]
Nature Communications, 27 May 2026 Sudden drainage of meltwater lakes through water-filled fractures can locally accelerate the flow of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Scientists analysed 200 lakes on Sermeq Kujalleq (Jakobshavn Glacier) during the 2022-2023 melt seasons and found that 14% drained through this rapid “hydrofracturing” process, where meltwater forces open cracks and reaches the […]
Nature Communications Earth and Environment, 28 May 2026 Rapid sea ice loss is driving a fundamental shift in the Arctic Ocean, from a system limited by sunlight to one limited by nitrogen, a nutrient essential for marine life. Using a 25-year record (1998-2023) from the Fram Strait between Greenland and Svalbard, researchers found that nitrate […]
Negotiators and high-level representatives from several major negotiating groups in the UNFCCC (AOSIS, represented by Fiji; Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Nepal; the European Union, the Enivironmental Integrity Group, EIG, Switzerland; Africa Group, Sierra Leone; and Latin America, Panama) held a press conference under the ‘Friends of Science’ banner on June 17 in Bonn to reaffirm […]
Monday June 8th, 16:30-17:45 CEST in Room Kaminzimmer, World Conference Center (WCC), Bonn Dear Cryosphere Capsule Readers- SB64 – the 64th meeting of the Subsidiary Bodies under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) — begins this Monday, June 8 in Bonn, Germany. ICCI and the cryosphere community will be there; in particular, at […]
Nature Communications, 15 May 2026 Glaciers and snowpack currently help reduce water shortages for many downstream cities of Asia by supplying additional water during dry seasons. However, this relief is projected to sharply decline over coming decades. The number of urban residents facing water scarcity across the region could increase by 31-53% by 2050, depending […]
Communications Earth & Environment, 14 May 2026 River floods in the upper Indus basin are projected to become more frequent, intense, and unpredictable through 2100, with the frequency of critically high water levels at Pakistan’s Tarbela Dam expected to nearly triple by the end of the century. This study shows that although heavier rainfall will […]
NPJ Natural Hazards, 8 May 2026 Rapid warming increases permafrost thaw and the risk of dangerous floods, landslides, and collapsing mountain slopes in the western Himalaya, placing downstream communities and infrastructure at growing risk. The study found that rising temperatures are destabilizing high mountain terrain in India’s Kinnaur district and creating conditions that could trigger […]
Scientific Reports, 29 April 2026 Extreme weather events increasingly shape how Himalayan glaciers gain and lose ice from year to year. Chhota Shigri Glacier in the western Himalaya experienced its worst ice loss on record during 2022 after unusually intense spring and summer heatwaves affected mountain regions across the Northern Hemisphere, including the Himalaya, Alps, […]
Science, 6 May 2026 An August 2025 landslide in Tracy Arm fjord, Alaska, generated one of the largest tsunamis in recorded history, with water and debris reaching 481 meters up the opposite fjord wall and then surging through the valley. The failure occurred at the edge of South Sawyer Glacier, where long-term glacier retreat and […]
Environmental Research, 30 April 2026 Central Asia’s glaciers experienced their most severe mass loss year on record in 2025, with nearly 2% of the region’s total glacier volume disappearing. About two-thirds of large glaciers in the region (around 4,000 in total) experienced their worst year of ice loss since measurements began. This extreme melt was […]