cryosphere

noun

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

   “Climate change has a strong effect on the cryosphere.”

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

   “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.”

   “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.”