The Cryosphere: 18 years of community-focussed publishing documenting one of Earth’s most rapidly changing environments

The Cryosphere is a leading interactive, open-access journal of the European Geosciences Union, dedicated to advancing understanding of the Earth’s cryosphere, and its role in the climate system, in the past, present, and into the future. Established in 2007, the journal was founded to provide a focussed forum for high-quality research on frozen water and frozen ground in all its forms. Its scope spans glaciers and ice sheets, seasonal snow, sea ice, lake and river ice, and permafrost, and the journal also welcomes contributions that consider interactions between the cryosphere and the wider Earth system, research incorporating human perspectives, and studies of extra-terrestrial ice. Its open peer-review model promotes transparency, scientific dialogue, and respectful engagement across the international cryospheric research community.

Since its inception, The Cryosphere has been closely aligned with the rapid growth of cryospheric science driven by climate change, advances in satellite observations and numerical modelling, and the state-of-the-art of field-based and analytical research. The journal has played a key role in disseminating landmark studies on ice sheet mass balance, sea ice decline, permafrost thaw, and cryosphere–climate feedbacks - research that has gone on to influence international assessments such as the IPCC reports. Today, The Cryosphere serves the global research community by supporting ethical and rigorous publishing practice while highlighting emerging topics such as cryospheric hazards, tipping points, and the socio-environmental impacts of cryosphere decline. The journal continues to evolve alongside the field, reflecting both fundamental advances in research methods and data availability, and pressing environmental challenges facing Earth’s polar and mountain regions.