CR
Cryospheric Sciences

Cryospheric Sciences

Classroom on Ice: The Patagonian Icefield Research Program

, and March 27, 2026
a group of students and staff in hi-vis rain gear pick theri way along a rocky slope towards a glacier
The students and faculty on their way to Bernal glacier. [Credits: Dr. Gwenn Flowers]

An isolated fjord at the edge of the Southern Patagonia Icefield. A small cluster of tents pitched beside Bernal Glacier. Fourteen days without roads, cell reception, or routine – only creaking ice fronts, restless wind, the constant murmur of meltwater, unrelenting rain, and a team of fellow adventurers as companions. The Patagonia Icefield Research Program (PIRP) is an immersive classroom where ...[Read More]

Memories from the Field – The Vastness of the Greenland Ice Sheet

March 16, 2026
Below a clear blue sky, ridges of ice undulate towards the horizon in stripes of white, blue, and black.
A view on the Greenland Ice Sheet close to Kangerlussuaq [Credit: Mirjam Paasch - July 2025].

I remember the day very well. It was the first time we drove up to the glacial ice from our base station in Kangerlussuaq (Western Greenland), where we had patiently been waiting for two days for the  weather to clear.  I took this photo during a three-week fieldwork campaign in July of 2025 as part of the Deep Purple project. As part of the project, we were in the field to collect glacial ice-alg ...[Read More]

IGS: A Home for the Global Cryosphere

February 27, 2026
IGS: A Home for the Global Cryosphere
[Credit: Allen Pope, IGS]

Like many glaciologists (in the broad sense – as in, cryospheric researchers, not just those who study glaciers!), my professional “home” has been the International Glaciological Society (IGS) ever since grad school; My first conference was an IGS branch meeting, I found my postdoc by networking at an IGS symposium, I have published work in IGS journals, and IGS has supported many community activi ...[Read More]

Peak glacier extinction in the mid-twenty-first century

February 13, 2026
Peak glacier extinction in the mid-twenty-first century
Fig 1: Ice cave at the Morteratsch glacier. These caves show the disintegration of glacier fronts. [Credit: Jonas van Breedam]

Have you ever wondered how many glaciers will still exist in the future? Or how many glaciers we might lose each year in the coming decades? In our new study (Van Tricht et al., 2025), we shift the focus of glacier modelling from ice volume to individual glaciers. Because every glacier, no matter how small, can matter. Not necessarily for global sea-level rise, but for landscapes, ecosystems, cult ...[Read More]

How Citizen Scientists mapped Arctic Permafrost

and January 30, 2026
How Citizen Scientists mapped Arctic Permafrost
Fig 1: Aerial view of an Arctic landscape near Aklavik, NWT, Canada. The characteristic polygon patterns on the Earth’s surface reveal the presence of permafrost in the soil. (Credit: UndercoverEisAgenten)

Cryosphere scientists know it well; the Arctic doesn’t give up its secrets easily. This is especially true when it comes to exploring permafrost -– frozen soils that store centuries of history underground. Keeping an eye on the state of permafrost is more important than ever, as widespread permafrost thaw is a direct result of  rising global temperatures. However, monitoring the vast Arctic is not ...[Read More]

Introducing the new chief editors of the cryo blog

January 20, 2026
Introducing the new chief editors of the cryo blog
Fig. 1: Incoming and outgoing chief editors. From left to right: Leah Muhle, Mack Baysinger, Loeka Jongejans, Maria Scheel, Lina Madaj and Emma Pearce. [Credits: the chief editors]

New year, new team! We have some changes in our editorial team and would like to introduce our new chief editors to you today – please say hi to Mack and Leah! Mack and Leah will be taking over the role as chief editors from Maria Scheel, Lina Madaj, Emma Pearce and Loeka Jongejans. You might have read their names before as authors or editors on some of our very recent posts. From January on ...[Read More]

Speaking Up for the Cryosphere at COP30

December 15, 2025
Speaking Up for the Cryosphere at COP30
Figure 1: Early career scientist team of ICCI at COP30 (left to right: Amy Imdieke, ICCI; Florence Colleoni, OGS (the Italian Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics) and SCAR (Scientific Committee on Antarctic research; Christopher Auckland, University of East Anglia; Marcela Alves de Castro, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul ; Ailin Sol Ortone Lois, Universidad Tecnológica Nacional Argentina; Fabian Seemann, AWI).

During the climate negotiations at COP30, the global importance of a warming cryosphere was stressed in various formats. The UNFCCC Conference of Parties (this year’s COP30) marks the yearly global climate negotiations which formed the aim to limit global warming to well below 2 °C (the 1.5 °C target) with the Paris Agreement at COP21 in 2015. These huge conferences of ten thousands of people feel ...[Read More]

When August Brought Snow: Unseasonal Snowfall Disrupts Life in Ladakh’s High Valley Village

, and November 21, 2025
When August Brought Snow: Unseasonal Snowfall Disrupts Life in Ladakh’s High Valley Village
(a) Regional map showing the study area (red box). (b–c) Satellite-derived snow/no-snow classification for August 2024 and August 2025, highlighting a substantial snow cover in 2025. (d) Field photograph of unexpected late-summer snowfall over agricultural fields and settlement areas. (e) Close-up showing freshly fallen snow over standing crops. Color legend indicates snow (light blue) and no-snow (dark blue).

August in Ladakh is a time of golden fields and harvest songs, not snowstorms. Yet in 2025, this rhythm broke. Panikhar village in Ladakh woke beneath fifteen centimetres of snow, an unseasonal blanket that changed the functioning of the valley and stunned its people. What began as a glaciological field trip turned into a firsthand encounter with climate uncertainty. This blog captures those extra ...[Read More]

Geysers, Geese, and Graph Neural Networks: Impressions from the Glaciology in Machine Learning Summer School (GlaMacLeS)

, and November 14, 2025
Geysers, Geese, and Graph Neural Networks: Impressions from the Glaciology in Machine Learning Summer School (GlaMacLeS)

An isolated, idyllic, and inspiring setting in the gorgeous Centennial Valley of Montana, where nothing pulls your attention from the task ahead, a motivated group of PhD students and postdocs in glaciology, and five energetic lecturers: the perfect combination for tackling the ambitious challenge of exploring the interface between glaciology and machine learning. Who wouldn’t learn well here, esp ...[Read More]

Heard Island Glaciers Are Shrinking Faster Than Ever! Here’s what you need to know.

October 17, 2025
Heard Island Glaciers Are Shrinking Faster Than Ever! Here’s what you need to know.

In this blog post Dr Levan Tielidze from Monash University and Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future shares insights from a new glacier assessment of Heard Island. Although rarely visited and largely unknown, Heard Island plays an outsized role in understanding how the Southern Ocean cryosphere is responding to global warming. The island is one of the few sub-Antarctic locations with active g ...[Read More]