Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate

This Special Report is part of a series of three reports brought out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) following a decision at its 43rd session in Nairobi, Kenya, in April 2016. This report was published on September 24, 2019, while the others – Climate Change and Land and Global Warming of 1.5°C – came out in August 2019 and October 2018, respectively. Climate change has impacted the planet’s oceans and the cryosphere, which directly or indirectly affects human life and the ecosystem. (The report defines the cryosphere as parts of the Earth that are below the land and ocean surface and are frozen, including snow cover, glaciers, ice sheets, ice shelves, icebergs, sea ice, lake ice, river ice, permafrost and seasonally frozen ground.)The report (divided into six chapters) begins with a Summary for Policymakers, which compiles key findings under three heads: observed changes and impacts, projected changes and risks, and implementing responses to ocean and cryosphere change. One of the report’s vital takeaways is that the changes in the ocean and the cryosphere are often met with fragmented government actions that make it difficult to manage the risks from these changes. The report also finds that people with the most exposure and the highest vulnerability to these changes often have the least capacity to respond to them.