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

18 Dec 2025 Thermal diffusivity of mountain permafrost derived from borehole temperature data in the Swiss Alps

The properties of the permafrost ground depend on its temperature and composition. The authors used temperature data from 29 boreholes in Switzerland to study how heat moves through different types of mountain permafrost landforms, supporting a physically meaningful interpretation of thermal properties in terms of ice content, water saturation, and porosity. Please read more.

18 Dec 2025 Thermal diffusivity of mountain permafrost derived from borehole temperature data in the Swiss Alps

The properties of the permafrost ground depend on its temperature and composition. The authors used temperature data from 29 boreholes in Switzerland to study how heat moves through different types of mountain permafrost landforms, supporting a physically meaningful interpretation of thermal properties in terms of ice content, water saturation, and porosity. Please read more.

03 Dec 2025 New MS Word template available for manuscript preparation

The existing MS Word template for authors has been significantly expanded and now includes many important notes on the standard sections that must be included in the manuscript. Please visit the "Submission" page, section "Templates for your manuscript file" and download the new template before writing your next manuscript.

03 Dec 2025 New MS Word template available for manuscript preparation

The existing MS Word template for authors has been significantly expanded and now includes many important notes on the standard sections that must be included in the manuscript. Please visit the "Submission" page, section "Templates for your manuscript file" and download the new template before writing your next manuscript.

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.

Recent papers

22 Jan 2026
On the accuracy of the measured and modelled surface latent and sensible heat flux in the interior of the Greenland Ice Sheet
Ida Haven, Hans Christian Steen-Larsen, Laura J. Dietrich, Sonja Wahl, Jason E. Box, Michiel R. van den Broeke, Alun Hubbard, Stephan T. Kral, Joachim Reuder, and Maurice van Tiggelen
The Cryosphere, 20, 573–593, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-573-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-573-2026, 2026
Short summary
22 Jan 2026
Dynamics of snow and glacier cover in the Upper Karnali Basin, Nepal: an analysis of its relationship with climatic and topographic parameters
Motilal Ghimire, Dibas Shrestha, Raju Chauhan, Amrit Thapa, Til Prasad Pangali Sharma, Krishna Prasad Sharma, Sher Bahadur Gurung, Sundar Devkota, Prabin Bhandari, Sikesh Koirala, Yanhong Wu, Niroj Timalsina, and Jeevan Kutu
The Cryosphere, 20, 551–572, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-551-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-551-2026, 2026
Short summary
22 Jan 2026
Biogeochemical shifts during Arctic spring: potential reduction of CH4 and N2O emissions driven by surfactants in the sea-surface microlayer
Lina A. Holthusen, Hermann W. Bange, Thomas H. Badewien, Julia C. Muchowski, Tina Santl-Temkiv, Jennie Spicker Schmidt, Oliver Wurl, and Damian L. Arévalo-Martínez
The Cryosphere, 20, 535–550, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-535-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-535-2026, 2026
Short summary
22 Jan 2026
Brief communication: Evaluation of the ESA CCI+ ESMR v1.1 sea-ice concentration product
Stefan Kern
The Cryosphere, 20, 527–534, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-527-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-527-2026, 2026
Short summary
22 Jan 2026
Spatial heterogeneity in post-fire permafrost evolution as revealed by satellite radar observations
Barbara Widhalm, Annett Bartsch, and Benjamin Jones
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6205,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6205, 2026
Preprint under review for TC (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Short summary

Highlight articles

21 Jan 2026
Inferring the ice sheet sliding law from seismic observations: A Pine Island Glacier case study
Kevin Hank, Robert J. Arthern, C. Rosie Williams, Alex M. Brisbourne, Andrew M. Smith, James A. Smith, Anna Wåhlin, and Sridhar Anandakrishnan
The Cryosphere, 20, 495–510, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-495-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-495-2026, 2026
Short summary Co-editor-in-chief
16 Jan 2026
Positive feedbacks drive the Greenland ice sheet evolution in millennial-length MAR–GISM simulations under a high-end warming scenario
Chloë Marie Paice, Xavier Fettweis, and Philippe Huybrechts
The Cryosphere, 20, 309–332, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-309-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-309-2026, 2026
Short summary Co-editor-in-chief
18 Nov 2025
Recent history and future demise of Jostedalsbreen, the largest ice cap in mainland Europe
Henning Åkesson, Kamilla Hauknes Sjursen, Thomas Vikhamar Schuler, Thorben Dunse, Liss Marie Andreassen, Mette Kusk Gillespie, Benjamin Aubrey Robson, Thomas Schellenberger, and Jacob Clement Yde
The Cryosphere, 19, 5871–5902, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-5871-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-5871-2025, 2025
Short summary Co-editor-in-chief
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

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.