The International Association of Cryospheric Sciences, or IACS, is the eighth association of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG). It was launched by the IUGG Council on 2007-07-04, developing from the International Commission of Snow and Ice of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) via the transitional Union Commission for the Cryospheric Sciences (UCCS).[1]
Formation of this new Association is recognition of the importance of the cryosphere in the study of Earth System Science, and particularly at a time of significant global change. Accordingly, cryospheric sciences is an umbrella term for the study of the cryosphere (not unlike atmospheric sciences, encompassing meteorology, climatology, and aeronomy); 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. IACS has historic connections going back to the establishment of the Commission Internationale des Glaciers (International Glacier Commission) in 1894.
The broad objectives of IACS are:[1][2]
(at present IACS has responsibility within the International Council of Science for the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS)).
IACS is structured around a number of disciplinary Divisions. Currently these are:[1][2]
A number of working groups under these Divisions address scientific problems of the cryosphere that are timely and well constrained. Recent examples include a working group on "Intercomparison of Forest Snow Process Models", and working groups that have developed a new "International Classification for Seasonal Snow on the Ground" and a new "Glossary of Mass Balance and Related Terms".