Light absorbing aerosols (LAAs) in snow and ice are one of the least understood parameters in global climate models due to complicated physical processes within the cryosphere and too few in situ observations. Ground observations are limited due to the difficulty of collecting and preserving samples for analysis from remote environments.In order to help build a larger repository of ground observations, this dissertation explores the concentration and composition of black carbon (BC) in snow and glacial melt-water across the polar regions in the Arctic and Antarctic, as well as major mountain regions such as the Himalayas, Rockies, and Andes Mountains.Three state-of-the-art methods for BC detection are applied in this dissertation. The first chapter identifies chemical signatures of past and present sources of dissolved black carbon (DBC) in Antarctic lakes, utilizing a DBC molecular marker method. Here we find that DBC with a woody signature is preserved in the deep, ancient brines of Antarctic lake bottom waters. In contrast, the surface waters are enriched in BC from fossil fuels. The second chapter, which also utilizes the DBC molecular markeriii technique, explores DBC across the cryosphere. We show that DBC concentrations are surprisingly high in the bottom waters of Antarctic lakes compared to other remote regions of the cryosphere, even those located near point sources. Aged snow also contains higher DBC concentrations than fresh snow suggesting that dry deposition brings the majority of BC to the cryosphere. Additionally, the DBC composition across samples from the cryosphere are similar due to high amounts of solar exposure leading to photodegradation, except in fresh snow with a wildfire signature. The third and fourth chapters utilize the Single Particle Soot Photometer to measure refractory black carbon (rBC). The third chapter also applies spectral albedo measurements and the light absorption heating method to find that coal dust from an active mine in Svalbard, Norway significantly reduces the spectral reflectance of the surrounding Arctic surface snow. The fourth chapter reports aerosol rBC concentrations in the boundary layer of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, as well as in snow from the accumulation area of the Commonwealth Glacier. Here we determine that aerosol concentrations increase during high wind events, but there is no significant trend in deposition in the snow pit. This could be due to sporadic deposition during katabatic wind events.These findings support the importance of real in-situ observations in order to fully understand the role of BC in the global carbon cycle. It is also evident that local environmental processes can control the concentrations and composition of BC in the cryosphere. These ground-based measurements will likely serve as ground validation for future remote sensing of snow/ice impurities and LAAs deposition models.