It was launched by the IUGG Council on 4 July 2007, developing from the International Commission of Snow and Ice of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) via the transitional Union Commission for the Cryospheric Sciences (UCCS).

[1] Formation of this new Association is recognition of the importance of the cryospheric sciences in the study of Earth System Science, and particularly at a time of significant global change.

The broad objectives of IACS are:[1][2] (at present IACS has responsibility within the International Council of Science for the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS)).

Currently these are:[1][2] A number of working groups under these Divisions address scientific problems of the cryosphere that are timely and well constrained.

Recent examples include a working group on "Intercomparison of Forest Snow Process Models", and working groups that have developed a new "International Classification for Seasonal Snow on the Ground" and a new "Glossary of Mass Balance and Related Terms".