Ice cores have revolutionized our understanding of Earth’s climatic and environmental evolution through detailed and well-dated records of polar climate and atmospheric composition and aerosols. The ice cores and boreholes further provide a valuable glaciological laboratory for studying ice dynamics, microstructure, and subglacial processes. The International Partnership in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS) is an expert group of scientists and engineers from over 20 nations that aims to coordinate international collaboration in ice core sciences.

The North American ice core community is proud to host the Fourth IPICS Open Science Conference in Banff, Canada, in October 2026. This meeting brings together experts in environmental reconstruction, ice dynamics, climate and ice sheet modeling, and ice drilling. Networking and professional development activities are organized for and by early career researchers. Many nations have taken up the IPICS “Oldest Ice Challenge” to extend the ice core record further back in time beyond the 800,000 year limit of traditional continuous ice cores. The 2026 IPICS conference will feature new results from continuous cores extending back as far as perhaps 1.5 million years, and discontinuous cores going back as far as six million years.

This IPICS 2026 special issue between Climate of the Past and The Cryosphere invites contributions from all aspects of ice core related sciences.

The glacial–interglacial cyclicity of the climate system varied in the past, most notably during the transition from a 40 ka to a 100 ka world in the mid-Pleistocene. Gases trapped in Antarctic ice are the most direct access available to investigate the composition of the paleo-atmosphere of that age and processes related to climate variability. The International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS) Oldest Ice endeavour aims at obtaining an undisturbed ice-core record older than 1 Ma. In addition to ice cores, time slices of paleo-records, available, for example, in Antarctic blue-ice fields, provide further valuable information, which complements continuous time series based on ice cores. This special issue will assemble contributions dedicated to the preparatory phase of this global effort to obtain ice samples and time series older than 700 000 years. This includes a consideration of glaciogical and geophysical settings which allow the presence of old ice, results from pre-site surveys and modelling studies, aspects of ice-core and other sampling techniques and analyses, and requirements for drilling and core handling.

Two closely coordinated groups (one from the USA and the other from Europe) are revisiting the Camp Century sub-ice sediment and the silty ice zone just above it using a wide variety of analytical techniques to make inferences about ice sheet behaviour, palaeo-climate, and palaeo-ecology as well as sediment transport and sourcing. The paper that kicked this off was in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) 2 years ago: "A multi-million-year-old record of Greenland vegetation and glacial history preserved in sediment beneath 1.4 km of ice at Camp Century" (Christ et al., 2021).

Talking among the 20+ lead investigators, we decided that the papers coming out of multiple, coordinated investigations of this historic (and still unique) ice core would be very useful to the broader community if they could be gathered into a special issue. Having these papers together would increase their impact and accessibility. Because of the wide variety of investigations being conducted on the core materials, a combined special issue including papers from both The Cryosphere and Climate of the Past will generate the most contributions and the largest readership.

Reference:

Christ, A. J., Bieman, P. R., Schaefer, J. M., Dahl-Jensen, D., Steffensen, J. P, Corbett, L. B., Peteet, D. M., Thomas, E. K., Steig, E. J., Rittenour, T. M., Tison, J.-L., Blard, P.-H., Perdrial, N., Dethier, D. P., Lini, A., Hidy, A. J., Caffee, M. W., and Southon, J.: A multi-million-year-old record of Greenland vegetation and glacial history preserved in sediment beneath 1.4 km of ice at Camp Century, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 118, e2021442118, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2021442118, 2021.

The climate history since the Last Interglacial (~ 130 000 years ago) is marked by profound transitions, ranging from abrupt events to gradual reorganizations of the Earth system. This period offers a unique testing ground for evaluating and refining Earth system models across a wide spectrum of boundary conditions, from glacial extremes to interglacial warmth.

Simulating the climate dynamics of the last glacial cycle – including transitions, feedbacks, and tipping elements – enables us to assess the structural robustness of Earth system models used for future projections. Such model–data comparisons are critical not only to constrain uncertainties, but also to understand possible regime shifts in climate variability, the emergence of nonlinear behaviour, and the relevance of long-term feedbacks under anthropogenic forcing.

Explosive volcanic eruptions inject large volumes of ash and gas into the atmosphere, with significant environmental and climatic consequences. As human populations increasingly occupy volcanic regions, and as global trade, transport, and food systems become more interconnected, the impacts of eruptions are no longer confined to the host country. Even geologically “modest” events (e.g., Eyjafjallajökull 2010 CE) can trigger cascading, global-scale disruptions with serious economic, societal, and environmental repercussions. Studying large explosive eruptions in the geological record can help to prepare for volcanic-induced disruptions in the future because it provides a critical opportunity to (1) assess their short- (<1 year) and long-term (>1000 years) impacts on the Earth system, (2) improve calibration of climate model simulations, (3) constrain the frequency of large or environmentally significant eruptions, and (4) evaluate how human activity may be pushing Earth system responses to volcanism into new states. However, despite substantial recent advances, major challenges remain in quantifying eruption impacts across different magnitudes, styles, and regions. As an active working group of PAGES, the Volcanic Impacts to Climate and Society (VICS) group is currently in its third phase. During its second phase, it had a notable special issue with Climate of the Past between 2020–2023 that included 20 articles. Following this success, to bring together the next round of research from this working group, we would like to create a new special issue in Climate of the Past. This special issue invites contributions that address these challenges by improving reconstructions of past eruptions, elucidating climate system responses, and assessing implications for human infrastructure and society. We also welcome studies that inform policy development and volcanic risk management, particularly in regions vulnerable to disruptions of food, energy, and water resources. The special issue aims to provide a hub for scientific research looking to advance interdisciplinary understanding of links between volcanism, climate, and society and enhance global preparedness for future volcanic crises.

Explosive volcanic eruptions inject large volumes of ash and gas into the atmosphere, with significant environmental and climatic consequences. As human populations increasingly occupy volcanic regions, and as global trade, transport, and food systems become more interconnected, the impacts of eruptions are no longer confined to the host country. Even geologically “modest” events (e.g., Eyjafjallajökull 2010 CE) can trigger cascading, global-scale disruptions with serious economic, societal, and environmental repercussions. Studying large explosive eruptions in the geological record can help to prepare for volcanic-induced disruptions in the future because it provides a critical opportunity to (1) assess their short- (<1 year) and long-term (>1000 years) impacts on the Earth system, (2) improve calibration of climate model simulations, (3) constrain the frequency of large or environmentally significant eruptions, and (4) evaluate how human activity may be pushing Earth system responses to volcanism into new states. However, despite substantial recent advances, major challenges remain in quantifying eruption impacts across different magnitudes, styles, and regions. As an active working group of PAGES, the Volcanic Impacts to Climate and Society (VICS) group is currently in its third phase. During its second phase, it had a notable special issue with Climate of the Past between 2020–2023 that included 20 articles. Following this success, to bring together the next round of research from this working group, we would like to create a new special issue in Climate of the Past. This special issue invites contributions that address these challenges by improving reconstructions of past eruptions, elucidating climate system responses, and assessing implications for human infrastructure and society. We also welcome studies that inform policy development and volcanic risk management, particularly in regions vulnerable to disruptions of food, energy, and water resources. The special issue aims to provide a hub for scientific research looking to advance interdisciplinary understanding of links between volcanism, climate, and society and enhance global preparedness for future volcanic crises.

Ice cores have revolutionized our understanding of Earth’s climatic and environmental evolution through detailed and well-dated records of polar climate and atmospheric composition and aerosols. The ice cores and boreholes further provide a valuable glaciological laboratory for studying ice dynamics, microstructure, and subglacial processes. The International Partnership in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS) is an expert group of scientists and engineers from over 20 nations that aims to coordinate international collaboration in ice core sciences.

The North American ice core community is proud to host the Fourth IPICS Open Science Conference in Banff, Canada, in October 2026. This meeting brings together experts in environmental reconstruction, ice dynamics, climate and ice sheet modeling, and ice drilling. Networking and professional development activities are organized for and by early career researchers. Many nations have taken up the IPICS “Oldest Ice Challenge” to extend the ice core record further back in time beyond the 800,000 year limit of traditional continuous ice cores. The 2026 IPICS conference will feature new results from continuous cores extending back as far as perhaps 1.5 million years, and discontinuous cores going back as far as six million years.

This IPICS 2026 special issue between Climate of the Past and The Cryosphere invites contributions from all aspects of ice core related sciences.

The climate history since the Last Interglacial (~ 130 000 years ago) is marked by profound transitions, ranging from abrupt events to gradual reorganizations of the Earth system. This period offers a unique testing ground for evaluating and refining Earth system models across a wide spectrum of boundary conditions, from glacial extremes to interglacial warmth.

Simulating the climate dynamics of the last glacial cycle – including transitions, feedbacks, and tipping elements – enables us to assess the structural robustness of Earth system models used for future projections. Such model–data comparisons are critical not only to constrain uncertainties, but also to understand possible regime shifts in climate variability, the emergence of nonlinear behaviour, and the relevance of long-term feedbacks under anthropogenic forcing.

Two closely coordinated groups (one from the USA and the other from Europe) are revisiting the Camp Century sub-ice sediment and the silty ice zone just above it using a wide variety of analytical techniques to make inferences about ice sheet behaviour, palaeo-climate, and palaeo-ecology as well as sediment transport and sourcing. The paper that kicked this off was in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) 2 years ago: "A multi-million-year-old record of Greenland vegetation and glacial history preserved in sediment beneath 1.4 km of ice at Camp Century" (Christ et al., 2021).

Talking among the 20+ lead investigators, we decided that the papers coming out of multiple, coordinated investigations of this historic (and still unique) ice core would be very useful to the broader community if they could be gathered into a special issue. Having these papers together would increase their impact and accessibility. Because of the wide variety of investigations being conducted on the core materials, a combined special issue including papers from both The Cryosphere and Climate of the Past will generate the most contributions and the largest readership.

Reference:

Christ, A. J., Bieman, P. R., Schaefer, J. M., Dahl-Jensen, D., Steffensen, J. P, Corbett, L. B., Peteet, D. M., Thomas, E. K., Steig, E. J., Rittenour, T. M., Tison, J.-L., Blard, P.-H., Perdrial, N., Dethier, D. P., Lini, A., Hidy, A. J., Caffee, M. W., and Southon, J.: A multi-million-year-old record of Greenland vegetation and glacial history preserved in sediment beneath 1.4 km of ice at Camp Century, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 118, e2021442118, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2021442118, 2021.

The glacial–interglacial cyclicity of the climate system varied in the past, most notably during the transition from a 40 ka to a 100 ka world in the mid-Pleistocene. Gases trapped in Antarctic ice are the most direct access available to investigate the composition of the paleo-atmosphere of that age and processes related to climate variability. The International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS) Oldest Ice endeavour aims at obtaining an undisturbed ice-core record older than 1 Ma. In addition to ice cores, time slices of paleo-records, available, for example, in Antarctic blue-ice fields, provide further valuable information, which complements continuous time series based on ice cores. This special issue will assemble contributions dedicated to the preparatory phase of this global effort to obtain ice samples and time series older than 700 000 years. This includes a consideration of glaciogical and geophysical settings which allow the presence of old ice, results from pre-site surveys and modelling studies, aspects of ice-core and other sampling techniques and analyses, and requirements for drilling and core handling.