Geophysical Research Letters, 26 April 2023 Mountain glaciers worldwide have lost 2% of their ice in the past twelve years, with 90% of this loss driven by rising air temperatures. In this study, researchers used satellite radar data for the first time to create a global picture of long-term glacier changes, with detailed insights into […]
Scientific Reports, 21 April 2023 An ice core from the Antarctic Peninsula contains fine soot particles released from oil and coal burning dating back to the 1930s, thousands of miles away from any potential source. Fossil fuel combustion, especially from inefficient burning. releases black carbon which can loft high into the atmosphere and eventually land […]
Global impacts, especially loss and damage, caused by cryosphere feedbacks from emissions overshoot over 1.5°C will be largely permanent on human timescales, beyond adaptation limits for billions living in coastal or mountain-dependent regions. This session outlined the latest science on projected feedbacks from ice sheets and glaciers in the context of implementation timeframes, such as […]
Earth System Science Data, 20 April 2023 This week, IMBIE (the Ice Sheet Mass Balance Inter-comparison Exercise) released its third assessment report on the state of the planet’s ice sheets; in which leading cryosphere scientists, supported by the European Space Agency and NASA, consolidate all of the latest satellite data. The IMBIE assessment found that […]
Nature Communications, 19 April 2023 One of the previously most stable glaciers in Greenland is now retreating at an unprecedented rate, more than doubling the amount of ice it releases and flowing four times faster into the ocean since 2018. The Steenstrup glacier in southeastern Greenland was stable for decades, seemingly immune from rising temperatures, […]
News Briefing: 19 April 2023 Research stations high above the Arctic circle are experiencing record-breaking temperatures that make it increasingly difficult to collect snow and ice data before it melts entirely. At Ny Ålesund in the Svalbard archipelago, scientists hoping to harvest ice cores are finding glaciers saturated with pools of water, erasing hundreds to […]
Irreversible impacts from cryosphere loss are already visible today due to increasing global warming. Crossing additional cryosphere thresholds will have far-reaching impacts across the world. In this side event, speakers presented the latest science showing that limiting warming to 1.5°C without overshoot is critical to avoid crossing the most catastrophic thresholds. Speakers included Dr. Carl-Friedrich […]
Geophysical Research Letters, 21 March 2023 Disappearing sea ice near West Antarctica is sending warm water closer to the continent, with the potential to increase ocean temperatures under discharging glaciers by more than 1°C in the next three decades should today’s high emissions continue. On the other hand, a very low emissions pathway (SSP1-1.9, as […]
Communication Earth & Environment, 13 March 2023 This study combines historical measurements with climate models to reveal that global meridional overturning circulation (GMOC) patterns — the planet-wide system of large ocean currents — have weakened by up to 20% over the last five decades near the seafloor around Antarctica. As temperatures rise, warm meltwater from […]
The Greenland Ice Sheet is three kilometers thick and has the potential to raise global sea levels by seven meters if completely melted. Cryosphere regions such as these directly respond to peak global temperatures, even if temperatures are lowered again. This presentation from COP27 provided an overview of Greenland’s temperature threshold (the point at which […]
Nature, 06 April 2023 A study of the earlier great ice sheet covering Scandinavia has found that when it collapsed about 19,000 years ago, it did so at rates up to 600 meters per day; far faster than anything measured by satellite data over the past 50 years. Indeed the slowest rate of collapse of […]
Nature Communications, 1 April 2023 Increased warm water upwelling along the edges of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) has the potential to increase ice loss and resulting sea-level rise from the EAIS over the next 200 years, especially in the most vulnerable sections of the ice sheet. In addition to a general warming of […]
Nature, 29 March 2023 Projected increases in Antarctic ice sheet melt, especially with high emissions, appear poised to drive a substantial slowdown of deep ocean currents in coming decades, potentially as early as 2050 should current emissions continue. This would cause deep and widespread warming of deep ocean waters, and a 40% slowdown of overturning […]
The East Antarctic Ice Sheet contains 52 meters of sea level rise, and there are worrying signs of mass loss from some regions. Targeted at policymakers, this event summarizes the latest science and shows why we must satisfy the Paris Agreement to avoid several meters of sea level rise from the cryosphere’s ‘sleeping giant’. Presenters […]
News Briefing: 22 March 2023 Multiple research stations in the high mountains of France and Switzerland are observing more frequent and larger rockfalls as permafrost thaw increases every year. Although permafrost is commonly associated with the Arctic, such permanently frozen soil and sediments also are a feature of mountain landscapes. These sometimes fill the cracks […]