TC cover
Co-editors-in-chief: Caroline Clason, Chris Derksen, Christian Haas, Christian Hauck, Nanna Bjørnholt Karlsson, Hanna Lee & 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

16 Sep 2025 Drift-aware sea ice thickness maps from satellite remote sensing

The authors developed a new method to map Arctic sea ice thickness daily using satellite measurements. Please read more.

16 Sep 2025 Drift-aware sea ice thickness maps from satellite remote sensing

The authors developed a new method to map Arctic sea ice thickness daily using satellite measurements. 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.

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.

Recent papers

30 Oct 2025
Contrasting patterns of change in snowline altitude across five Himalayan catchments
Orie Sasaki, Evan S. Miles, Francesca Pellicciotti, Akiko Sakai, and Koji Fujita
The Cryosphere, 19, 5283–5298, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-5283-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-5283-2025, 2025
Short summary
30 Oct 2025
A prototype passive microwave retrieval algorithm for tundra snow density
Jeffrey J. Welch and Richard E. J. Kelly
The Cryosphere, 19, 5259–5282, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-5259-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-5259-2025, 2025
Short summary
30 Oct 2025
Seasonal variability of ocean heat transport and ice-shelf basal melt around Antarctica
Fabio Boeira Dias, Matthew H. England, Adele K. Morrison, and Benjamin K. Galton-Fenzi
The Cryosphere, 19, 5231–5258, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-5231-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-5231-2025, 2025
Short summary
30 Oct 2025
| Highlight paper
Formation of mega-scale glacial lineations far inland beneath the onset of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream
Charlotte M. Carter, Steven Franke, Daniela Jansen, Chris R. Stokes, Veit Helm, John Paden, and Olaf Eisen
The Cryosphere, 19, 5299–5315, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-5299-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-5299-2025, 2025
Short summary
29 Oct 2025
Emulating the expansion of Antarctic perennial firn aquifers in the 21st century
Sanne B. M. Veldhuijsen, Willem Jan van de Berg, Peter Kuipers Munneke, Nicolaj Hansen, Fredrik Boberg, Christoph Kittel, Charles Amory, and Michiel R. van den Broeke
The Cryosphere, 19, 5157–5173, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-5157-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-5157-2025, 2025
Short summary

Highlight articles

30 Oct 2025
Formation of mega-scale glacial lineations far inland beneath the onset of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream
Charlotte M. Carter, Steven Franke, Daniela Jansen, Chris R. Stokes, Veit Helm, John Paden, and Olaf Eisen
The Cryosphere, 19, 5299–5315, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-5299-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-5299-2025, 2025
Short summary
15 Oct 2025
TICOI: an operational Python package to generate regular glacier velocity time series
Laurane Charrier, Amaury Dehecq, Lei Guo, Fanny Brun, Romain Millan, Nathan Lioret, Luke Copland, Nathan Maier, Christine Dow, and Paul Halas
The Cryosphere, 19, 4555–4583, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4555-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4555-2025, 2025
Short summary Co-editor-in-chief
26 Sep 2025
4D GPR imaging of a near-terminus glacier collapse feature
Bastien Ruols, Johanna Klahold, Daniel Farinotti, and James Irving
The Cryosphere, 19, 4045–4059, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4045-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-4045-2025, 2025
Short summary Co-editor-in-chief
16 Sep 2025
Drift-aware sea ice thickness maps from satellite remote sensing
Robert Ricker, Thomas Lavergne, Stefan Hendricks, Stephan Paul, Emily Down, Mari Anne Killie, and Marion Bocquet
The Cryosphere, 19, 3785–3803, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-3785-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-3785-2025, 2025
Short summary Co-editor-in-chief
15 Sep 2025
Linking crystallographic orientation and ice stream dynamics: evidence from the EastGRIP ice core
Nicolas Stoll, Ilka Weikusat, Daniela Jansen, Paul Bons, Kyra Darányi, Julien Westhoff, María-Gema Llorens, David Wallis, Jan Eichler, Tomotaka Saruya, Tomoyuki Homma, Sune Olander Rasmussen, Giulia Sinnl, Anders Svensson, Martyn Drury, Frank Wilhelms, Sepp Kipfstuhl, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, and Johanna Kerch
The Cryosphere, 19, 3805–3830, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-3805-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-3805-2025, 2025
Short summary Co-editor-in-chief

Notice on the current situation in Ukraine

To show our support for Ukraine, all fees for papers from authors (first or corresponding authors) affiliated to Ukrainian institutions are automatically waived, regardless if these papers are co-authored by scientists affiliated to Russian and/or Belarusian institutions. The only exception will be if the corresponding author or first contact (contractual partner of Copernicus) are from a Russian and/or Belarusian institution, in that case the APCs are not waived.

In accordance with current European restrictions, Copernicus Publications does not step into business relations with and issue APC-invoices (articles processing charges) to Russian and Belarusian institutions. The peer-review process and scientific exchange of our journals including preprint posting is not affected. However, these restrictions require that the first contact (contractual partner of Copernicus) has an affiliation and invoice address outside Russia or Belarus.