cryosphere

See also: cryosphère

English

Etymology

From cryo- +‎ -sphere.

Pronunciation

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Noun

cryosphere (plural cryospheres)

1. All those areas of the Earth where the surface is frozen.

   Meronyms: glacier, ice cap, ice sheet, permafrost, sea ice, snow

   Coordinate terms: hydrosphere, biosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere

   Climate change has a strong effect on the cryosphere.

   • 1990, Edwin T. Engman, “Microwave Applications For Weather, Climate and Hydrology”, in Selected Papers on Remote Sensing and Satellite Communications, →Bibcode:

     Eventually, a complement of visible, infrared, and microwave sensors will be needed to provide all the information required in the cryosphere […]

   • 2009, Olav Slaymaker, Richard Kelly, The Cryosphere and Global Environmental Change, John Wiley & Sons (→ISBN), preface:

     This book attempts to deal integratively with all elements of the cryosphere in the context of a changing global environment. Not only is that global environment changing with respect to climate, but the accelerating pressures on the environment from anthropogenic activity are complicating our understanding of cryospheric change.

   • 2009 March 24, Peter Popham, “Melting snow prompts border change between Switzerland and Italy”, in The Independent‎^[1]:

     The border has been fixed since 1861, when Italy became a unified state. But for the past century the surface area of the “cryosphere”, the zone of glaciers, permanent snow cover and permafrost, has been shrinking steadily, with dramatic acceleration in the past five years.

Derived terms

• cryospheric
• cryospherically

Translations

areas where the surface is frozen

• Dutch: cryosfeer f
• French: cryosphère (fr) f
• German: Kryosphäre f

Further reading

• cryosphere on Wikipedia.Wikipedia