American Geophysical Union, 21 May 2025 The Antarctic Slope Current (ASC), a major ocean current surrounding Antarctica, serves as a natural barrier by separating warm waters from Antarctic ice shelves. Researchers found that rising temperatures, increasing meltwater runoff, and shifting wind patterns will dramatically strengthen this current in coming decades if carbon emissions continue at […]

NPJ Climate and Atmospheric Science, 17 April 2025 An analysis of heatwaves in Northern Hemisphere permafrost regions finds that these extreme events will rapidly grow stronger and last longer after 2050 under high and very high emissions (SSP3-7.0 and 5-8.5), with dangerous implications for greater permafrost carbon emissions, as well as infrastructure stability. Low and […]

The Cryosphere, 24 April 2025 Scientists have developed a statistical technique to predict how snowfall and surface melting will influence the stability of Antarctic ice shelves under different emissions scenarios. They found that while most ice shelves remain safe from meltwater-driven fracturing under low emissions (SSP1-2.6), nearly all could become prone to hydrofracturing by 2150 […]

The International Glaciers Conference in Dushanbe closed on May 31, and proved a landmark halfway point in the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation (IYGP) 2025. It served also to raising cryosphere issues as countries prepare for the UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies meetings in June (SB62) and later, COP30 in Brazil. Outcomes from this conference will be […]

Nature Communications, 20 May 2025 A study by four senior IPCC authors presents strong evidence that the Paris Agreement’s lower temperature limit of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels is too high to prevent significant sea-level rise from Antarctica and Greenland. Even current warming levels at 1.2°C, if sustained, will likely lead to several meters of sea-level […]

Nature Communications, 19 May 2025 A global assessment of mountain glaciers reveals that even temporarily exceeding 1.5°C of warming will have irreversible and long-lasting consequences on these vital ice reservoirs, which serve as water towers for surrounding and downstream regions. These escalating consequences of even incremental, temporary temperature rise pose a deadly hazard to communities […]

Nature Communications, 30 April 2025 A study monitoring Arctic plant diversity in response to climate change finds that 60% of more than 2,000 monitored plots spread across the Circumpolar North have endured extensive changes, either gaining new species and/or loosing existing ones over the past four decades. The greatest species gains and losses occurred in […]

The International Conference on Glaciers Preservation will take place in Dushanbe from May 29-31. The conference will build momentum in global efforts to highlight the critical role of glaciers and snowpack and energize climate action during the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation (IYGP). Importantly, it will strengthen conversations between heads of state and government, national […]

Copernicus Climate Change Service and World Meteorological Organization, 15 April 2025 2024 was Europe’s warmest year on record, with estimated losses from storms and flooding alone reaching €18.2 billion, revealed the annual climate report published by the EU’s Copernicus Programme and WMO. The report consolidates 40 datasets to track the impacts of climate change on […]

Nature Communications, 24 April 2025 Deep gouges in the seafloor beneath the North Sea reveal that large icebergs tens of kilometers wide floated along the modern UK coastline towards the end of the Last Ice Age, and may help predict how Antarctica may respond to warming temperatures. The study documents the catastrophic collapse of ice […]

Nature, 20 March 2025 A study modeling the long-term evolution of rivers beneath Antarctica shows “hotspots” where churning water beneath ice shelves creates vulnerable areas in the ice, which could increase thinning by 20-50% across ice shelves in the Aurora Subglacial Basin by 2100. This East Antarctic basin is grounded below sea level, a particularly […]

Nature, 23 March 2025 This study investigates the long-term health impacts of floods in the US since the turn of the century, calculating that each day with flood conditions was associated with 8 more deaths than expected per 10 million individuals. Researchers specializing in climate change, medical care, and epidemiology synthesized two decades of data […]

Ice loss from the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets has quadrupled since the 1990s and now represents the dominant source of sea-level rise, with potential to add over 15 meters by 2300. Rising global temperatures are approaching thresholds that can trigger irreversible retreat, prompting urgent calls to meet the more ambitious target of the Paris […]

Nature, 7 April 2025 Subglacial water may play a much larger role in Antarctic ice loss than previously thought, and this study suggests that current models may underestimate future sea-level rise by a factor of three. Vast networks of lakes and streams lie beneath the Antarctic ice sheet. This water can lubricate the ice, allowing […]

The Cryosphere, 1 April 2025 Near-complete glacier loss is expected in new projections of the Ötztal and Stubai mountain ranges of western Austria with global warming above 1.5°C. Between 2006 and 2017, roughly 20% of both glacier area and volume was lost across this region, with five glaciers disappearing entirely. Researchers consolidated decades of glacier […]