NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Our Effort to save our planet by understanding the Cryosphere

What is the Cryosphere?

The Cryosphere includes all forms of frozen water on the Earth's land or sea surfaces, as well as perennially frozen ground. You can find frozen water in different forms on the Earth surface such as: Seasonal snow, glaciers, ice sheets and permafrost or perennially frozen ground. Seasonal snow is very important to study, due to the fact that it covers approximately about 33 percent of the total Earth surface mostly in the Northern Hemisphere. Seasonal snowfall accounts for a good percentage of the annual precipitation in the northern countries.

In the other hand, Glaciers and ice sheets cover about 10 percent of the Earth's land area and accounts for storing about 75 percent of the world's freshwater. These large masses of ice accumulate from snowfall over long periods of time. When glacier and ice sheets reach their critical thickness they travel or flow.

Cryospheric Mission:

CPLX-- Cold Land Processes

The Cold Land Processes Mission is a research mission concerned with frozen landscapes cold areas of the Earth's land surface where water is frozen either seasonally or permanently. This Mission will use microwave remote sensing to measure critical components of the terrestrial cryosphere, including snow pack characteristics, and the freeze/thaw state of the land surface.

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