Atmosphere–Cryosphere–Ocean Interactions

The part of the Earth covered by water in its frozen stateCryosphere (snow or ice) is known as the cryosphere. This includes land ice, seasonal or multi-year sea ice, seasonal snow cover, and permanently frozen soil water known asPermafrost permafrost. The ice-albedoAlbedo feedback is a process in which the high albedo, or shortwave energy reflectivity, of snow- or ice-covered surfaces causes the cryosphere to expand relatively rapidly during cold times, but also to melt back relatively rapidly during timesTime of warming. Polar amplificationand polar amplification is also an important feature of the cryosphereCryosphere, as the high latitudes warm at a faster rate than the tropics, thereby reducing the need for tropical to polar transfer of energyArcticenergy. The result is that the general circulation theoretically slows, leaving storm systems outside the cryosphere hovering over the same areas for longer periods of time. This situation makes extreme wet events even wetter, and lengthens the inter-arrival timesTime between precipitation events, thereby lengthening droughts too. Polar cyclogenesisCyclogenesis often occurs in baroclinic zonesBaroclinic zone where the cryosphereCryosphere meets much warmer water. Other interactions between the cryosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere are important but often poorly-understood mechanisms in driving and regulating the climate systemClimate system.