What is Crysys?

CRYSYS (CRYosphere SYStem in Canada) is a Canadian-led Interdisciplinary Science Investigation (IDS) in the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) Program. The main goals of CRYSYS are to develop capabilities for monitoring and understanding regional and larger scale variations in cryospheric variables of importance to Canada (snow, solid precipitation, permafrost and seasonally frozen ground, ice sheets, ice caps and glaciers, sea-, river-, and lake ice), and to improve understanding of the role of the cryosphere in the climate system. CRYSYS is also promoting the assembly, maintenance and analysis of key historical, operational and research cryospheric data sets to support climate monitoring and model validation.

CRYSYS is organized as a collaborative research project, and currently involves over 30 researchers from 14 universities, 6 federal research groups, and the private sector. CRYSYS has been hosted and funded by the Meteorological Service of Canada since 1993. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) plays an important role in CRYSYS since it became a major funding partner in 2000.

The CRYSYS program develops and strengthens scientific partnerships between government departments, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and universities, and ensures that Canadian scientists and agencies maintain leadership, competence and visibility in the development of applications of spacebased systems for studying the cryosphere and its response to climate change. The results of this project will provide timely and consistent information of cryospheric components that will allow regional and national planning and strategic decision making for environmental prediction, disaster management, and mitigation.