Sessions > Session 8

Session 8 : The cryosphere: witness and actor in past climate and environmental changes

Coordination: Emilie Capron (IGE) et Nathaelle Bouttes (LSCE)

Mots-clés: cryosphere, ice sheets, iceberg, sea ice, permafrost, climate, ice core, modeling, carbon cycle

The cryosphere is a major component of the climate system. Whether we consider the ice sheets, the sea ice, the icebergs or the frozen water in permafrost, they all have a strong influence on climate. In the past, the volume and configuration of the ice sheets have changed greatly, and they are closely linked to climate variations. Sea ice plays a fundamental role in the formation of deep water and ocean circulation, which iceberg discharges have been able to modify. Finally, permafrost plays an important role in the carbon cycle. In addition, the ice, due to the drilling of ice cores, constitutes a fundamental archive for reconstructing the climatic evolution over the past 800 000 years. Joint measurements on ice and trapped air bubbles provide a unique access to past changes in climate and atmospheric gas composition, allowing us to understand their links. This session is open to all contributions based on experimental measurements or numerical simulations to better understand changes within the cryosphere and their interactions with other components of the climate system over the course of the Earth's history.

The cryosphere: witness and actor in past climate and environmental changes