Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
CliC – affiliated scientists led the preparation of the cryosphere-dedicated chapter in the IPCC AR4, which presented the first holistic look at the simultaneous changes taking place in various parts of the cryosphere. The AR4 analysis of the state of the cryosphere was further developed under the Global Outlook for Ice and Snow published by UNEP in 2007, which also included key contributions of many experts associated with CliC. The expected contributions of cryospheric changes to the Earth’s climate system, and in turn the impact of climate variability and changes on the cryosphere are expected to be very significant in the future. For example, melting of mountain glaciers and polar ice sheets contribute to the increased pace of the global sea-level change, while accelerated thawing of permafrost alters the land surface in northern latitudes and affects the hydrological regime and carbon cycles.
Chapter 4 Observations: Changes in Snow, Ice and Frozen Ground. In: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Snow, Water, Ice and Permafrost in the Arctic (SWIPA)
After the seminal Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) of 2005, a new level of understanding on the changes in the Arctic climate has been obtained and documented in publications such as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) report which is an update since ACIA in 2008. The new level of knowledge on the state of and changes in the cryosphere made it possible for the cryosphere science community to embark on a new assessment entitled “Climate Change and Cryosphere: Snow, Water, Ice, and Permafrost in the Arctic” (SWIPA), which has been commissioned by the Arctic Council and is co-sponsored by the AMAP, IASC, CliC and IPY. In this activity not only observed changes in the cryosphere will be reviewed but also a prediction will be given for their evolution under a warming climate, based on the climate predictions available in the WCRP CMIP3 archive. SWIPA is comprised of 3 major components:
- Arctic sea ice in a changing climate
- The Greenland ice sheet in a changing climate
- Climate change the terrestrial cryosphere