Cryospheric science articles within Nature

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Pinning-point changes over three epochs spanning the periods 1973–1989, 1989–2000 and 2000−2022 were measured, and by proxy the changes to ice-shelf thickness back to 1973–1989 were inferred.

    • Bertie W. J. Miles
    •  & Robert G. Bingham

  • Article |

    Analysis of more than 236,000 observations of glacier terminus positions shows that accelerated calving reduced the ice area of Greenland by about 5,000 km2 since 1985, producing over 1,000 Gt of freshwater that could influence ocean salinity and circulation.

    • Chad A. Greene
    • , Alex S. Gardner
    •  & Joshua K. Cuzzone

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Snowpack reconstructions for major river basins in the Northern Hemisphere reveal that the snowpack has declined in almost half of the basins, with roughly one-third of the declines attributable to human-induced warming.

    • Alexander R. Gottlieb
    •  & Justin S. Mankin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Simulations using two state-of-the-art ice-sheet models show that abrupt melting of the Greenland ice sheet following overshooting of the global mean temperature critical threshold can be mitigated by subsequent cooling to below 1.5 °C.

    • Nils Bochow
    • , Anna Poltronieri
    •  & Niklas Boers

  • Article |

    By 2100, the decline of all glaciers outside the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets will produce new terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems, posing both challenges and opportunities for conservation.

    • J. B. Bosson
    • , M. Huss
    •  & F. Arthaud

  • Article |

    Ice-core data show that extreme iceberg discharge events in the North Atlantic had no detectable impact on Greenland temperatures but are synchronous with abrupt acceleration of Antarctic warming.

    • Kaden C. Martin
    • , Christo Buizert
    •  & Todd A. Sowers

  • Article |

    Analysis of more than 7,600 corrugation ridges on the Norwegian continental shelf shows that rapid grounding-line retreat of several hundred metres per day occurred across low-gradient ice-sheet beds during the last deglaciation.

    • Christine L. Batchelor
    • , Frazer D. W. Christie
    •  & Julian A. Dowdeswell

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A simple model describes the stochastic process of dynamic sea ice thickening, shows how reduced residence time affects changes in ice thickness and highlights the enduring impact of climate change on the Arctic Ocean.

    • Hiroshi Sumata
    • , Laura de Steur
    •  & Sebastian Gerland

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Despite observations from a hot-water-drilled access hole showing warm ocean waters beneath Thwaites Glacier Eastern Ice Shelf, the basal melt rate is strongly suppressed due to the low current speeds and strong density stratification.

    • Peter E. D. Davis
    • , Keith W. Nicholls
    •  & Keith Makinson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf observations from a new underwater vehicle show that high melt rates occur where ice is sharply sloped at the ocean interface, with lower melt where the ice is comparatively flat.

    • B. E. Schmidt
    • , P. Washam
    •  & K. Makinson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A reconstruction of temperatures in central and north Greenland from ad 1000 to 2011 shows that that the final decade of this period was on average 1.5 ± 0.4 °C warmer compared to pre-industrial temperatures, accompanied by increased meltwater run-off.

    • M. Hörhold
    • , T. Münch
    •  & T. Laepple

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Analysis of a continuous record of water-isotope ratios from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide ice core reveals a dominant role for annual maximum insolation in determining West Antarctic summer temperature during the Holocene.

    • Tyler R. Jones
    • , Kurt M. Cuffey
    •  & James W. C. White

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Analysis of global navigation satellite system observations and satellite data shows that frontal changes in 2012 of the North-East Greenland Ice Stream led to speed-up and thinning at least 200 km inland.

    • Shfaqat A. Khan
    • , Youngmin Choi
    •  & Anders A. Bjørk

  • Review Article |

     Analysis of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet response to past warm periods and current observations of change highlight the importance of satisfying the Paris Climate Agreement to avoid a multi-metre contribution to sea level over the next few centuries.

    • Chris R. Stokes
    • , Nerilie J. Abram
    •  & Pippa L. Whitehouse

  • Article |

    Data from multiple satellite sensors show that Antarctica lost almost 37,000 km2 of ice-shelf area from 1997 to 2021, and that calving losses are as important as ice-shelf thinning.

    • Chad A. Greene
    • , Alex S. Gardner
    •  & Alexander D. Fraser

  • Article |

    An analysis of basal-friction variability across western Greenland shows melt forcing influences bed strength in opposite ways in northern and southern Greenland, establishing melt has an important role in ice-sheet evolution that is mainly dictated by whether a region is land or marine terminating.

    • Nathan Maier
    • , Florent Gimbert
    •  & Fabien Gillet-Chaulet

  • Article |

    Analysis of satellite stereo imagery uncovers two decades of mass change for all of Earth’s glaciers, revealing accelerated glacier shrinkage and regionally contrasting changes consistent with decadal climate variability.

    • Romain Hugonnet
    • , Robert McNabb
    •  & Andreas Kääb

  • Article |

    Unexpected intervals of low 230Th concentration in marine sediment cores are explained by considering that during at least two such periods, the Arctic Ocean and Nordic seas were composed entirely of fresh water and covered by a thick ice shelf.

    • Walter Geibert
    • , Jens Matthiessen
    •  & Ruediger Stein

  • Article |

    Modelling shows that the Antarctic Ice Sheet exhibits multiple temperature thresholds beyond which ice loss would become irreversible, and once melted, the ice sheet can regain its previous mass only if the climate cools well below pre-industrial temperatures.

    • Julius Garbe
    • , Torsten Albrecht
    •  & Ricarda Winkelmann

  • Article |

    Observed global-mean sea-level rise since 1900 is reconciled with estimates based on the contributing processes, revealing budget closure within uncertainties and showing ice-mass loss from glaciers as a dominant contributor.

    • Thomas Frederikse
    • , Felix Landerer
    •  & Yun-Hao Wu

  • Article |

    Applying a bias correction to a state-of-the-art dataset covering non-alpine regions of the Northern Hemisphere and to three other datasets yields a more constrained quantification of snow mass in March from 1980 to 2018.

    • Jouni Pulliainen
    • , Kari Luojus
    •  & Johannes Norberg

  • Article |

    An analysis based on Landsat imagery shows that the extent of river ice has declined extensively over past decades and that this trend will continue under future global warming.

    • Xiao Yang
    • , Tamlin M. Pavelsky
    •  & George H. Allen

  • Article |

    Three techniques for estimating mass losses from the Greenland Ice Sheet produce comparable results for the period 1992–2018 that approach the trajectory of the highest rates of sea-level rise projected by the IPCC.

    • Andrew Shepherd
    • , Erik Ivins
    •  & Jan Wuite

  • Article |

    Analysis of two-million-year-old ice from Antarctica provides a direct comparison of atmospheric gas levels before and after the shift from glacial cycles of 100 thousand years to 40-thousand-year cycles around one million years ago.

    • Yuzhen Yan
    • , Michael L. Bender
    •  & John A. Higgins

  • Letter |

    Observations and regional climate models show that the increasing coverage of ice slabs on the Greenland ice sheet could lead to a global sea-level rise of up to 74 millimetres by 2100.

    • M. MacFerrin
    • , H. Machguth
    •  & W. Abdalati

  • Letter |

    A continuous, multi-century record of subarctic Atlantic marine productivity shows that a marked decline in net primary productivity has occurred across the subarctic Atlantic basin over the past two centuries.

    • Matthew B. Osman
    • , Sarah B. Das
    •  & Eric S. Saltzman

  • Letter |

    Studies of an Antarctic marine sediment core suggest that the East Antarctic Ice Sheet retreated in the vicinity of the Wilkes Subglacial Basin during extended warm periods of the late Pleistocene, when temperatures were similar to those predicted to occur within this century.

    • David J. Wilson
    • , Rachel A. Bertram
    •  & Carlota Escutia

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