News Briefing: 2 February 2023 For the first time in at least seven thousand years, the Hinman Glacier’s ice and snowpack has fully melted, forming a large body of water now unofficially known as the “Hinman Lake.” Hinman was the largest glacier between Mount Rainier and Glacier Peak in Washington state, U.S. Smaller glaciers in […]

This event summarized the key messages from the five-day conference “Cryosphere 2022: International Symposium on Ice, Snow, and Water in a Warming World,” that took place in Reykjavík last August. Members of the Icelandic Meteorological Office, WMO, Icelandic Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Climate as well as participants from the symposium emphasized the importance […]

Nature Climate Change, 26 January 2023 Future atmospheric warming will likely overpower the ability of snow to protect Antarctic ice shelves from surface meltwater ponding, increasing their vulnerability to collapse. Ponds of meltwater can generate enough pressure to crack the surface of the ice. When these cracks propagate downward to the base of a floating […]

Nature Climate Change, 5 January 2023 Rising temperatures can push parts of the climate system across “thresholds” that trigger abrupt or irreversible changes in other regions of the world, even tens of thousands of kilometers apart. In this study, an international team of climate researchers investigate the long-range impacts of deforestation of the Amazon rainforest […]

The IPCC Sixth Assessment Report noted that due to emissions to-date, summer loss of Arctic sea ice will now inevitably occur at least once, even under very low emissions scenarios; and likely before 2050. Although the crossing of this summer Arctic sea ice threshold can no longer be prevented, urgent emission reductions consistent with the […]

Nature, 18 January 2023 Rising emissions are warming and increasing meltwater runoff in northern Greenland, one of the most remote regions of the ice sheet. Air temperatures in this region are now 1.5°C warmer than in the mid-20th century. In this study, researchers drilled deep into the ice sheet to analyze layers of trapped gas […]

Nature Communications, 10 December 2022 Warm Atlantic waters have been filling fjords and coastal areas along northeast Greenland for the past two decades, eroding the base of glaciers. This study consolidates one hundred years of oceanographic data to reveal that this region is shifting into an “Atlantification” hotspot. Within the past few decades, an influx […]

The two polar ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica are losing ice, with both increasingly contributing to sea level rise. Greenland’s ice sheet may already be the largest single contributor to global sea level rise. At the other end of the planet, portions of Antarctica are becoming increasingly vulnerable to collapse. If temperatures overshoot 2°C, […]

PLOS Biology, 22 December 2022 In this study, scientists, conservation experts and policymakers from a dozen countries came together to propose ten key “threat management strategies” that can be implemented to benefit more than 80% of Antarctic organisms. This is the first comprehensive assessment of Antarctic conservation strategies that accounts for both benefit and overall […]

Nature Climate Change, 12 January 2022 Researchers in the European Alps can use juniper shrubs to reconstruct snow conditions from hundreds of years ago, providing centuries of data in a scientific field where direct snowpack measurements have only been carried out for a few decades. Juniper shrubs live close to the ground and their growth […]

News Briefing: 27 December 2022 The Government of Nunavut released an assessment in late December in partnership with Arctic scientists, which found that polar bear populations in Hudson Bay have decreased by 27% over the past five years, much faster than projected. The town of Churchill, located in Western Hudson Bay, is a high-activity region […]

Antarctic marine species and ecosystems face an uncertain future, especially those that live in close association with ice. This event was organized by WWF-UK and illuminated the plight of emperor penguins, a species that is gravely threatened by the climate-driven disappearance of Antarctic sea ice. The abundance of these penguins may decline by 99% under […]

Science, 6 January 2023 Improved glacier-specific projections that incorporate more detailed satellite measurements and ice dynamics forecast greater glacier loss already by 2100 with continued high emissions of today (resulting in 4°C by 2100), versus rapid emissions reduction this decade which keep global mean temperatures close to 1.5°C. The difference is especially stark for the […]

This COP26 video with IPCC scientist Dr. Regine Hock, University of Oslo/University of Alaska and one of the above paper’s co-authors, explains some of the dynamics and research behind the above study released this week. Her presentation notes that glaciers are now receding and losing ice worldwide, even in regions where they seemed stable before. […]

To the widespread Cryosphere community, we wish you a fulfilling and inspiring 2023! Thanks to everyone — from researchers in the field, those developing and implementing policies, and communities on the local level — for your hard work in protecting the cryosphere, and thus both human and ecosystem well-being for future generations. This email marks […]