The cryosphere collectively describes the portions of a planetary surface in frozen form, including sea ice, lake ice, river ice, snow cover, glaciers, ice caps and ice sheets, and frozen ground (whic
h includes permafrost). [Wikipedia]
That portion of the earth where natural materials (water, soil, etc.) occur in frozen form. Generally limited to the polar latitudes and higher elevations.
The component of the climate system consisting of all snow, ice and frozen ground (including permafrost) on and beneath the surface of the Earth and ocean.
All regions on and beneath the surface of the Earth and ocean where water is in solid form, including sea ice, lake ice, river ice, snow cover, glaciers and ice sheets, and frozen ground (which includ
es permafrost).
One of the earth's spheres of irregular form existing in the zone of interaction of the atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere, distinguished by negative or zero temperature and the presence of water
in the solid or super-cooled state; the term refers collectively to the portions of the earth where water is in solid form, including snow cover, floating ice, glaciers, ice caps, ice sheets, seasonally frozen ground and perennially frozen ground (permafrost).
That part of the earth's crust, hydrosphere and atmosphere subject to temperatures below 0C for at least part of each year. The Cryosphere may be divided into the cryoatmosphere, the cryohydrosphere (
Snow Cover, Glaciers, and river, lake and sea Ice) and the cryolithosphere (perennially and seasonally Cryotic Ground, Rock Glacier). Some authorities exclude the earth's atmosphere from the Cryosphere; others restrict the term Cryosphere to the regions of the earth's crust where Permafrost exists.
Is the structural characteristics of frozen earth material. The Cryostructure is determined by the amount and distribution of Pore Ice (or Ice cement) and lenses of Segregated Ice. The type and arrang
ement of Ice in the frozen material will depend largely on the initial total water content of the material and the extent of moisture migration during subsequent freezing. For engineering purposes, the structure of frozen soil may be described as massive, layered or reticulate, based on the type and distribution of Ice in the soil. A massive structure (not to be confused with massive ground-ice forms) is characterized by the predominant presence of Pore Ice and by relatively low total Ice Content. In soils with a reticulate structure, Ice Veins generally form a random net, whereas in those with a layered structure, well-oriented horizontal Ice Lenses alternate with soil layers having a massive structure. In both cases their total Ice Content is relatively high.
A suction developed in freezing or partially frozen fine-grained materials as a result of temperature-dependent differences in unfrozen water content. Cryosuction occurs where gradients of the tempera
ture-dependent unfrozen water content in a freezing or partially frozen fine-grained earth material cause hydraulic gradients large enough to induce migration of pore water from unfrozen soil into the partially frozen soil via unfrozen water films.