The growth and decay of large ice sheets on the Earth's surface during the past, present and future leads to glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) triggered by the redistribution of surface ice and ocean masses, and the flow of mantle rocks. It changes solid Earth's geometric shape, sea levels, the Earth's gravity field, rotational motion, lithospheric bending, and the state of stress inside the Earth. This process is primarily driven by ice-sheet dynamics and Earth's structure, while it crucially feedbacks other Earth systems like the cryosphere and hydrosphere. GIA controls relative sea-level change through vertical land motion and gravitational–rotational effects, making it fundamental for ocean sciences, hydrological sciences, and climate investigations. Furthermore, differential uplift and tilting due to GIA reshapes landscapes and drainage networks, while emergent land and basin connections drive ecosystem succession and carbon burial. Moreover, GIA-related stress redistribution influences a region’s seismicity and its seismic hazard, which must be considered in nuclear waste storage safety assessments. Similarly, such stress changes can alter volcanic activity even thousands of kilometres away from the glaciated area. GIA effects are present in a wealth of standardized observational data, such as GNSS measurements, tide gauges, relative sea levels, and terrestrial and satellite gravimetry. These data help refine GIA models, which enhance our understanding of ice-sheet history, sea-level changes, Earth's rheology and near-surface processes. The GIA theory can also be applied to study other planets and moons.
We welcome contributions studying GIA's effects across various scales, including geodetic measurements, complex GIA modelling, the Earth's response to current ice-mass changes, and overview on emerging GIA data collections. We also invite abstracts on Earth structure and rheology, ice history and on GIA's impact on nuclear waste sites, volcanism, groundwater, permafrost, and carbon resources. We especially appreciate new model developments, model intercomparisons and model benchmarks in local, high spatial and temporal resolution for GIA assessments, results of fully coupled ice dynamics-GIA models, studies of broader environmental relevance, and improved GIA corrections for other geoscientific fields.