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

12 Feb 2026
Enhancing the Representation of Glaciers and Ice Sheets in the ecLand Land-Surface Model: Impacts on Surface Energy Balance and Hydrology Across Scales
Gabriele Arduini, Christoph Rüdiger, and Gianpaolo Balsamo
The Cryosphere, 20, 1119–1137, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-1119-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-1119-2026, 2026
Short summary
12 Feb 2026
Hysteresis of the Greenland ice sheet from the Last Glacial Maximum to the future
Lucía Gutiérrez-González, Alexander Robinson, Jorge Alvarez-Solas, Ilaria Tabone, Jan Swierczek-Jereczek, Daniel Moreno-Parada, and Marisa Montoya
The Cryosphere, 20, 1139–1162, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-1139-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-1139-2026, 2026
Short summary
12 Feb 2026
Large regional differences in Antarctic ice shelf mass loss from Southern Ocean warming and meltwater feedbacks
Morven Muilwijk, Tore Hattermann, Rebecca L. Beadling, Neil C. Swart, Aleksi Nummelin, Chuncheng Guo, David M. Chandler, Petra M. Langebroek, Shenjie Zhou, Pierre Dutrieux, Jia-Jia Chen, Christopher Danek, Matthew H. England, Stephen M. Griffies, F. Alexander Haumann, André Jüling, Ombeline Jouet, Qian Li, Torge Martin, John Marshall, Andrew G. Pauling, Ariaan Purich, Zihan Song, Inga J. Smith, Max Thomas, Irene Trombini, Eveline C. van der Linden, and Xiaoqi Xu
The Cryosphere, 20, 1087–1117, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-1087-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-1087-2026, 2026
Short summary
12 Feb 2026
Brief Communication: Retrieval-Driven Spread in Antarctic Winter Freeboards (CryoSat-2, 2013–2018)
Xinlong Liu, Stuart Paul Corney, Rachel Louise Tilling, and Petra Heil
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-662,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-662, 2026
Preprint under review for TC (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Short summary
12 Feb 2026
Some insights from the second principle of thermodynamics for snowpack modeling
Kevin Fourteau, Kaoane Jondeau, Clément Cancès, and Marie Dumont
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-510,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-510, 2026
Preprint under review for TC (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Short summary

Highlight articles

11 Feb 2026
Water vapour isotope anomalies during an atmospheric river event at Dome C, East Antarctica
Niels Dutrievoz, Cécile Agosta, Cécile Davrinche, Amaëlle Landais, Sebastien Nguyen, Étienne Vignon, Inès Ollivier, Christophe Leroy-Dos Santos, Elise Fourré, Mathieu Casado, Jonathan Wille, Vincent Favier, Bénédicte Minster, and Frédéric Prié
The Cryosphere, 20, 1025–1046, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-1025-2026,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-1025-2026, 2026
Short summary Co-editor-in-chief
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

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.