The cryosphere refers to the frozen realms of our planet: sea ice, glaciers, frozen ground in the northern reaches of the Earth. If you’re fascinated by frigid landscapes, there’s a web site for you: The Cryosphere: Where the World Is Frozen. The good people at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado – a clearinghouse for mind-blowing amounts of data – run this comprehensive and fascinating treasure chest of all things frosty.

Why are icebergs blue? What percentage of the planet is covered in snow? What determines weather in the Arctic? How does sea ice form? What will happen when permafrost melts? What the heck is a glacier, anyway? The Cryosphere web site has the answers to all these questions, and more.

You can also follow the Ice Trek, an expedition launching next month in which scientists will travel by helicopter to an iceberg floating off the coast of Antarctica. There they’ll install weather monitoring equipment and snow sensors, and will monitor the breakup of the iceberg as it drifts up into the southern Atlantic ocean. The researchers hope this project will help them better understand the role melting ice sheets will play in global warming, including how these shifts in the planet’s ice will impact sea levels.

Photo credit: NSIDC