Cryosphere

The cryosphere is all the frozen water on Earth: sea ice, glaciers, ice sheets, ice shelves, snow cover, river and lake ice, and permafrost. It is a fast-responding part of the climate system, amplifying warming through the ice-albedo feedback as bright reflective ice gives way to dark ocean. The IPCC dedicated a 2019 Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere to it, because land-ice loss is the growing driver of sea-level rise and Arctic change reshapes mid-latitude weather.