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

13 Mar 2025 New agreement between California Digital Library and Copernicus Publications

We are delighted to announce a new agreement between the California Digital Library and Copernicus Publications. The University of California will cover 50% of article processing charges (APCs) for manuscripts affiliated with any of their research units. Read more.

13 Mar 2025 New agreement between California Digital Library and Copernicus Publications

We are delighted to announce a new agreement between the California Digital Library and Copernicus Publications. The University of California will cover 50% of article processing charges (APCs) for manuscripts affiliated with any of their research units. Read more.

20 Feb 2025 Get involved, become a referee, and help shape TC's community publication output

We are pleased to announce that a new referee application form is now available. This means that if you are interested in contributing to the peer-review process and supporting high-quality scientific publishing in your community then you can apply today to become a referee. Your expertise can make a difference. Visit the online form here to learn more and join our reviewer community.

20 Feb 2025 Get involved, become a referee, and help shape TC's community publication output

We are pleased to announce that a new referee application form is now available. This means that if you are interested in contributing to the peer-review process and supporting high-quality scientific publishing in your community then you can apply today to become a referee. Your expertise can make a difference. Visit the online form here to learn more and join our reviewer community.

13 Feb 2025 Extreme precipitation associated with atmospheric rivers over West Antarctic ice shelves: insights from kilometre-scale regional climate modelling

The authors use three sophisticated climate models to examine extreme precipitation in a critical region of West Antarctica. They found that rainfall probably occurred during the two cases they examined and that it was generated by the interaction of air with steep topography. Read more.

13 Feb 2025 Extreme precipitation associated with atmospheric rivers over West Antarctic ice shelves: insights from kilometre-scale regional climate modelling

The authors use three sophisticated climate models to examine extreme precipitation in a critical region of West Antarctica. They found that rainfall probably occurred during the two cases they examined and that it was generated by the interaction of air with steep topography. Read more.

Recent papers

17 Mar 2025
Do we still need reflectance? From radiance to snow properties in mountainous terrain: a case study with the EMIT imaging spectrometer
Niklas Bohn, Edward H. Bair, Philip G. Brodrick, Nimrod Carmon, Robert O. Green, Thomas H. Painter, and David R. Thompson
The Cryosphere, 19, 1279–1302, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1279-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1279-2025, 2025
Short summary
17 Mar 2025
Inferring the seasonality of sea ice floes in the Weddell Sea using ICESat-2
Mukund Gupta, Heather Regan, Younghyun Koo, Sean Minhui Tashi Chua, Xueke Li, and Petra Heil
The Cryosphere, 19, 1241–1257, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1241-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1241-2025, 2025
Short summary
17 Mar 2025
Impacts of air fraction increase on Arctic sea ice density, freeboard, and thickness estimation during the melt season
Evgenii Salganik, Odile Crabeck, Niels Fuchs, Nils Hutter, Philipp Anhaus, and Jack Christopher Landy
The Cryosphere, 19, 1259–1278, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1259-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1259-2025, 2025
Short summary
17 Mar 2025
The Antarctic Ice Sheet sliding law inferred from seismic observations
Kevin Hank, Robert J. Arthern, C. Rosie Williams, Alex M. Brisbourne, Andrew M. Smith, James A. Smith, Anna Wåhlin, and Sridhar Anandakrishnan
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-764,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-764, 2025
Preprint under review for TC (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Short summary
17 Mar 2025
Brief communication: Sharp winter precipitation transition on the southern edge of the Tibetan Plateau
Titouan Biget, Fanny Brun, Walter Immerzeel, Leo Martin, Hamish Pritchard, Emily Colier, Yanbin Lei, and Tandong Yao
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-863,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-863, 2025
Preprint under review for TC (discussion: open, 0 comments)
Short summary

Highlight articles

21 Feb 2025
Brief communication: Sea-level projections, adaptation planning, and actionable science
William H. Lipscomb, David Behar, and Monica Ainhorn Morrison
The Cryosphere, 19, 793–803, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-793-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-793-2025, 2025
Short summary Co-editor-in-chief
23 Jan 2025
Present-day mass loss rates are a precursor for West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse
Tim van den Akker, William H. Lipscomb, Gunter R. Leguy, Jorjo Bernales, Constantijn J. Berends, Willem Jan van de Berg, and Roderik S. W. van de Wal
The Cryosphere, 19, 283–301, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-283-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-283-2025, 2025
Short summary Co-editor-in-chief
09 Jan 2025
A topographically controlled tipping point for complete Greenland ice sheet melt
Michele Petrini, Meike D. W. Scherrenberg, Laura Muntjewerf, Miren Vizcaino, Raymond Sellevold, Gunter R. Leguy, William H. Lipscomb, and Heiko Goelzer
The Cryosphere, 19, 63–81, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-63-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-63-2025, 2025
Short summary Co-editor-in-chief
28 Nov 2024
The future of Upernavik Isstrøm through the ISMIP6 framework: sensitivity analysis and Bayesian calibration of ensemble prediction
Eliot Jager, Fabien Gillet-Chaulet, Nicolas Champollion, Romain Millan, Heiko Goelzer, and Jérémie Mouginot
The Cryosphere, 18, 5519–5550, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5519-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5519-2024, 2024
Short summary Co-editor-in-chief
15 Nov 2024
Twenty-first century global glacier evolution under CMIP6 scenarios and the role of glacier-specific observations
Harry Zekollari, Matthias Huss, Lilian Schuster, Fabien Maussion, David R. Rounce, Rodrigo Aguayo, Nicolas Champollion, Loris Compagno, Romain Hugonnet, Ben Marzeion, Seyedhamidreza Mojtabavi, and Daniel Farinotti
The Cryosphere, 18, 5045–5066, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5045-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-5045-2024, 2024
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.