Editing Cryosphere (section)

== 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 [[lake]]s and [[river]]s, [[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 of Earth|atmosphere]], the [[hydrosphere]], the [[lithosphere]] and the [[biosphere]].<ref name=":0" />{{rp|1451}}

The term ''cryosphere'' comes from the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] word ''kryos'', meaning ''cold'', ''frost'' or ''ice'' and the Greek word ''sphaira'', meaning ''globe'' or ''ball''.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dsfai%3Dra^ σφαῖρα] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510152357/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dsfai%3Dra%5E|date=2017-05-10}}, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus</ref>

''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.