Melting ice and rising sea levels are perhaps the most iconic impacts of climate change, but these and other changes happening in the ocean and cryosphere—the parts of the earth’s surface covered in ice—are more complex and much more severe than commonly recognized.

That’s the reason for the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The Special Report on the Ocean and the Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC) emerges from an unprecedented request by national governments concerned about the insufficient data regarding climate effects on the ocean and ice on land and in water.

The ocean has absorbed more than 90 percent of the excess heat in the climate system since 1970, according to the report, but not without consequences. Marine ecosystems have been substantially altered by warming, acidification and deoxygenation. Without immediate steps to mitigate further warming and protect marine and frozen environments, we face a severe negative feedback loop of climate breakdown and degradation of ocean and ice-dependent ecosystems.

The report arrives right in the middle of New York Climate Week, and while the UN Summit has passed, the report will likely influence ongoing conversations among international stakeholders. Here are three key issues highlighted in the report.

