Acta Geographica Slovenica, a publication of the Anton Melik Geographical Institute of the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, has recently published a special volume (vol. 60 no. 2), “The Disappearing Cryosphere in the Southeastern Alps”. This special issue includes an introduction by Professors Anne Carey and Berry Lyons of The Ohio State University School of Earth Sciences with co-authors from the Anton Melik Geographical Institute, as well as articles by international teams of researchers presenting data from a geochemical analysis of ice in the southeastern Alps of Slovenia and Antarctica to provide a global point of comparison. The issue aims to highlight the importance of studying and sampling ice from around the world and in particular from the southeastern Alps in order to understand better climate change and past, present, and future environmental conditions.

As part of the Slovene Research Initiative, Professors Anne Carey and Berry Lyons travelled to Slovenia in 2017 and 2019 to collaborate with scientists at the Anton Melik Geographical Institute. During these research trips, Professors Carey and Lyons travelled to glaciers and ice caves to obtain samples of ice that were brought back to Ohio State for analysis. Carey and Lyons have continued to collaborate closely with colleagues at the Anton Melik Geographical Institute, who have continued to collect and send samples to them for analysis. This special issue builds upon the already published work of the collaborative Ohio State and Anton Melik Geographical Institute team in Geosciences in 2019 that presented their findings from the analysis of ice samples from the Paradana and Snežna Caves in Slovenia. A third paper will be published in the future based upon the most recently received samples.