Cryosphere
Definition and terminology

The cryosphere describes those portions of Earth 's surface where water is in solid form. Frozen water is found on the Earth 's surface primarily as snow cover, freshwater ice in lakes and rivers, sea ice, glaciers, ice sheets, and frozen ground and permafrost (permanently frozen ground).

The cryosphere is one of five components of the climate system. The others are the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the lithosphere and the biosphere.

The term cryosphere comes from the Greek word kryos, meaning cold, frost or ice and the Greek word sphaira, meaning globe or ball.

Cryospheric sciences is an umbrella term for the study of the cryosphere. As an interdisciplinary Earth science, many disciplines contribute to it, most notably geology, hydrology, and meteorology and climatology; in this sense, it is comparable to glaciology.

The term deglaciation describes the retreat of cryospheric features.
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