This Research Topic is part of the Knowledge Gaps from the IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate and Recent Advances series:
Knowledge Gaps from the IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate and Recent AdvancesAll people on Earth depend directly or indirectly on the ocean and cryosphere. The global ocean covers over two thirds of the Earth surface and contains the majority of Earth’s water. The cryosphere refers to frozen components of the Earth system and around 10% of Earth’s land area is covered by glaciers or ice sheets. The ocean and cryosphere support unique habitats and are interconnected with other components of the climate system through global exchange of water, energy and carbon. The projected responses of the ocean and cryosphere to past and current human-induced greenhouse gas emissions and ongoing global warming include climate feedbacks, changes over decades to millennia that cannot be avoided, thresholds of abrupt change, and irreversibility.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC) in Autumn 2019. This Research Topic will identify and substantiate knowledge gaps from the report, highlight recent scientific research findings or practices that address these gaps, and suggests areas where future research is urgently needed.
The report was prepared following an IPCC Panel decision in 2016 to prepare three Special Reports during the Sixth Assessment Cycle. By assessing new scientific literature, the SROCC responded to government and observer organization proposals. The report assessed the current state of the literature on the impact of climate change on the high mountain cryosphere, polar regions, coasts and sea level rise and the ocean. The aim of this Research Topic is not to re-assess the SROCC literature, but rather to look forward to future research priorities.
Papers should provide succinct descriptions of knowledge gaps and/or recent scientific findings and insights since the SROCC that offer prospects to address these gaps. The topics covered may align with the SROCC chapter headings or cut across those headings:
• Framing of the SROCC
• High mountain areas
• Polar regions
• Sea Level Rise and Implications for Low Lying Islands, Coasts and Communities
• Changing Ocean, Marine Ecosystems, and Dependent Communities
• Extremes, Abrupt Changes and Managing Risks
• Low Lying Islands and Coasts
Papers should provide succinct descriptions of knowledge gaps and should not attempt a comprehensive re-assessment of the SROCC literature.