Dark Algae Accelerates Greenland Ice Sheet Melting

Dark algae growing on the surface of the Arctic ice sheet are likely to expand future coverage, and tend to exacerbate melting, sea level rise and warming.

“These algae are not a new phenomenon.” James Bradley At the Institute of Oceanography in Marseille, France. “But if they bloom more intensely or the flowers bloom more widely, this is an important thing to consider in future projections of sea level rise.”

Greenland's ice sheets, which cover most of the island, are rapidly melting due to rising temperatures, making them the biggest contributor to sea level rise worldwide.

ancylonema Algae species bloom in patches of ice called ablation zones, which are exposed as snow lines recede to the ice sheet every summer. Flowers darken the ice, reduce its reflectivity, absorbing more heat, thereby increasing melting in these regions by an estimated 10-13%.

To better understand this feedback loop, Bradley and his colleagues gathered ancylonema Samples from the southwest tip of the ice sheet were examined for cells using advanced imaging techniques.

The results reveal that algae are highly adapted to malnutritional conditions and suggest that they can invade ice at high elevations with low nutrients.

Global warming already causes snow lines to increase altitude over time, exposing more ice. Ice algae should add yet another layer to these interactions and explain it in future climate forecasts.

“We have been studying glacial algae flowers for several years, and one of the biggest questions that remains is that we can grow to such high numbers in such undernourished ice.” I say that. Christopher Williamson At the University of Bristol, UK, where he was not involved in the project. “A big part of understanding this puzzle is the amount of nutrients needed for glacial algae cells and whether it can efficiently take and store rare nutrients available in the system. This research is cutting edge. They do an amazing job of demonstrating these things using the methodology of