Figure 2 summarizes a range of ways in which the atmosphere, cryosphere, and polar oceans are interconnected through chemical, biological, and physical processes. Dominé and Shepson, 2002 Grannas et al., 2007 Vancoppenolle et al., 2013 Gabric et al., 2018 Abbatt et al., 2019). Over the past decades, many chemical and physical processes that link the cryosphere and atmosphere in the Arctic, Antarctica, high latitude oceans, and low-latitude mountain regions (shown as white in Figure 1) have been identified (e.g. Finally, the atmosphere contains ice particles in clouds and fog, which are chemically and physically similar to snow and ice at the Earth’s surface (e.g. The extent of snow and ice covering the Earth’s surface is shown in Figure 1, which combines winter-time ice and snow cover in both the Southern and Northern Hemisphere. In addition, permanently frozen ground (permafrost) covers a significant portion of the Arctic as well as some parts of Antarctica and some mountains (9–12% of global land surface, Vaughan et al., 2013). Seasonal snow, the most dynamic single component of the cryosphere, covers up to ~20% of the Northern Hemisphere land surface ( National Snow and Ice Data Center – b, 2019). A much larger area of 17 million to 27 million km 2, equivalent to approximately 15% of the world’s oceans, is covered by sea ice on average during the year ( Spreen and Kern, 2017). Glaciers and ice caps in polar regions and high mountains cover 10% of the land area on Earth (730,000 km 2) ( National Snow and Ice Data Center – a, 2019). These regions are collectively referred to as the cryosphere.
To pursue these goals CATCH will foster an international, multidisciplinary research community, shed light on new research needs, support the acquisition of new knowledge, train the next generation of leading scientists, and establish interactions between the science community and society.Ī large portion of Earth’s surface is covered by frozen water including seasonal snow sea, river, and lake ice alpine and high latitude glaciers ice sheets and ice shelves and permafrost. We identify four key science areas: (1) micro-scale processes in snow and ice, (2) the coupled cryosphere-atmosphere system, (3) cryospheric change and feedbacks, and (4) improved decisions and stakeholder engagement. Here, we present the Cryosphere and ATmospheric Chemistry initiative (CATCH) which is focused on developing new multidisciplinary research approaches studying interactions of chemistry, biology, and physics within the coupled cryosphere – atmosphere system and their sensitivity to environmental change.
Atmospheric inputs to the cryosphere, including aerosols, nutrients, and contaminants, are also changing in the anthropocene thus driving cryosphere-atmosphere feedbacks whose understanding is crucial for understanding future climate. Ice, snow, and frozen ground in the polar and alpine regions of the planet are known to directly impact atmospheric composition, which for example is observed in the large influence of ice and snow on polar boundary layer chemistry. The cryosphere, which comprises a large portion of Earth’s surface, is rapidly changing as a consequence of global climate change.
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