TC cover
Co-editors-in-chief: Chris Derksen, Christian Haas, Christian Hauck, Nanna Bjørnholt Karlsson & Thomas Mölg
eISSN: TC 1994-0424, TCD 1994-0440

The Cryosphere (TC) is a not-for-profit international scientific journal dedicated to the publication and discussion of research articles, short communications, and review papers on all aspects of frozen water and frozen ground on Earth and on other planetary bodies.

The main subject areas are ice sheets and glaciers, permafrost, river and lake ice, seasonal snow cover, and sea ice, including remote sensing, numerical modeling, in situ, and laboratory approaches, and studies of the interaction of the cryosphere with the Earth system. Manuscripts with a focus on cryospheric research that include perspectives from social science, humanities, and other disciplines outside the natural sciences are also welcome.

Journal metrics

TC is indexed in the Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar, etc. We refrain from displaying the journal metrics prominently on the landing page since citation metrics used in isolation do not describe importance, impact, or quality of a journal. However, these metrics can be found on the journal metrics page.

News

14 Aug 2025 Insights into supraglacial lake drainage dynamics: triangular fracture formation, reactivation and long-lasting englacial features

The authors study the evolution of a massive lake on the Greenland Ice Sheet using satellite and airborne data and some modelling. Please read more.

14 Aug 2025 Insights into supraglacial lake drainage dynamics: triangular fracture formation, reactivation and long-lasting englacial features

The authors study the evolution of a massive lake on the Greenland Ice Sheet using satellite and airborne data and some modelling. Please read more.

07 Aug 2025 New radar altimetry datasets of Greenland and Antarctic surface elevation, 1991–2012

Increasing melting rates of the polar ice sheets are contributing more and more to sea level rise. Due to the remoteness and expanse of ice sheets, these changes are mainly observed using satellites. However, the accuracy of these measurements depends on the processing of these datasets. Here the authors use advanced algorithms to provide improved historical ice sheet elevation measurements, derived from satellite altimeters flying between 1991 and 2012, which will benefit cryospheric applications. Please read more.

07 Aug 2025 New radar altimetry datasets of Greenland and Antarctic surface elevation, 1991–2012

Increasing melting rates of the polar ice sheets are contributing more and more to sea level rise. Due to the remoteness and expanse of ice sheets, these changes are mainly observed using satellites. However, the accuracy of these measurements depends on the processing of these datasets. Here the authors use advanced algorithms to provide improved historical ice sheet elevation measurements, derived from satellite altimeters flying between 1991 and 2012, which will benefit cryospheric applications. Please read more.

08 May 2025 Speed-up, slowdown, and redirection of ice flow on neighbouring ice streams in the Pope, Smith, and Kohler region of West Antarctica

The authors used satellite observations to measure recent changes in ice speed and flow direction in the Pope, Smith, and Kohler region of West Antarctica (2005–2022). They found substantial speed-up on seven ice streams of up to 87 %. Read more.

08 May 2025 Speed-up, slowdown, and redirection of ice flow on neighbouring ice streams in the Pope, Smith, and Kohler region of West Antarctica

The authors used satellite observations to measure recent changes in ice speed and flow direction in the Pope, Smith, and Kohler region of West Antarctica (2005–2022). They found substantial speed-up on seven ice streams of up to 87 %. Read more.

Recent papers

15 Aug 2025
Estimation of duration and its changes in Lagrangian observations relying on ice floes in the Arctic Ocean utilizing a sea ice motion product
Fanyi Zhang, Ruibo Lei, Meng Qu, Na Li, Ying Chen, and Xiaoping Pang
The Cryosphere, 19, 3065–3087, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-3065-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-3065-2025, 2025
Short summary
15 Aug 2025
Seasonality in terminus ablation rates for the glaciers in Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat)
Aman KC, Ellyn M. Enderlin, Dominik Fahrner, Twila Moon, and Dustin Carroll
The Cryosphere, 19, 3089–3106, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-3089-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-3089-2025, 2025
Short summary
14 Aug 2025
| Highlight paper
Insights into supraglacial lake drainage dynamics: triangular fracture formation, reactivation and long-lasting englacial features
Angelika Humbert, Veit Helm, Ole Zeising, Niklas Neckel, Matthias H. Braun, Shfaqat Abbas Khan, Martin Rückamp, Holger Steeb, Julia Sohn, Matthias Bohnen, and Ralf Müller
The Cryosphere, 19, 3009–3032, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-3009-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-3009-2025, 2025
Short summary Co-editor-in-chief
14 Aug 2025
Explicit representation of liquid water retention over bare ice using the SURFEX/ISBA-Crocus model: implications for mass balance at Mera glacier (Nepal)
Audrey Goutard, Marion Réveillet, Fanny Brun, Delphine Six, Kevin Fourteau, Charles Amory, Xavier Fettweis, Mathieu Fructus, Arbindra Khadka, and Matthieu Lafaysse
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2947,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2947, 2025
Preprint under review for TC (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Short summary
14 Aug 2025
First Arctic-wide assessment of SWOT swath altimetry with ICESat-2 over sea ice
Felix L. Müller, Florian Seitz, and Denise Dettmering
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3046,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3046, 2025
Preprint under review for TC (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Short summary

Highlight articles

14 Aug 2025
Insights into supraglacial lake drainage dynamics: triangular fracture formation, reactivation and long-lasting englacial features
Angelika Humbert, Veit Helm, Ole Zeising, Niklas Neckel, Matthias H. Braun, Shfaqat Abbas Khan, Martin Rückamp, Holger Steeb, Julia Sohn, Matthias Bohnen, and Ralf Müller
The Cryosphere, 19, 3009–3032, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-3009-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-3009-2025, 2025
Short summary Co-editor-in-chief
23 Jul 2025
Thermal state of permafrost in the Central Andes (27–34° S)
Cassandra E. M. Koenig, Christin Hilbich, Christian Hauck, Lukas U. Arenson, and Pablo Wainstein
The Cryosphere, 19, 2653–2676, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-2653-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-2653-2025, 2025
Short summary Co-editor-in-chief
14 Jul 2025
Calibrated sea level contribution from the Amundsen Sea sector, West Antarctica, under RCP8.5 and Paris 2C scenarios
Sebastian H. R. Rosier, G. Hilmar Gudmundsson, Adrian Jenkins, and Kaitlin A. Naughten
The Cryosphere, 19, 2527–2557, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-2527-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-2527-2025, 2025
Short summary Co-editor-in-chief
08 May 2025
The system of atmosphere, land, ice and ocean in the region near the 79N Glacier in northeast Greenland: synthesis and key findings from the Greenland Ice Sheet–Ocean Interaction (GROCE) experiment
Torsten Kanzow, Angelika Humbert, Thomas Mölg, Mirko Scheinert, Matthias Braun, Hans Burchard, Francesca Doglioni, Philipp Hochreuther, Martin Horwath, Oliver Huhn, Maria Kappelsberger, Jürgen Kusche, Erik Loebel, Katrina Lutz, Ben Marzeion, Rebecca McPherson, Mahdi Mohammadi-Aragh, Marco Möller, Carolyne Pickler, Markus Reinert, Monika Rhein, Martin Rückamp, Janin Schaffer, Muhammad Shafeeque, Sophie Stolzenberger, Ralph Timmermann, Jenny Turton, Claudia Wekerle, and Ole Zeising
The Cryosphere, 19, 1789–1824, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1789-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1789-2025, 2025
Short summary Co-editor-in-chief
08 May 2025
Speed-up, slowdown, and redirection of ice flow on neighbouring ice streams in the Pope, Smith, and Kohler region of West Antarctica
Heather L. Selley, Anna E. Hogg, Benjamin J. Davison, Pierre Dutrieux, and Thomas Slater
The Cryosphere, 19, 1725–1738, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1725-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1725-2025, 2025
Short summary Co-editor-in-chief

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