Dark algae could speed up the fusion of the Greenland ice cream cap

The dark algae that grows on the surface of arctic ice caps are likely to expand their distribution area in the future, a trend that will exacerbate the melting, elevation of sea level and warming.

“These algae are not a new phenomenon,” says James Bradley At the Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography in Marseille, France. “But if they flourish more intensely or if flowering is more widespread, then it would be an important thing to consider in future projections of sea level elevation.”

The Greenland ice cream cap, which covers most of the island, is quickly casting due to the increase in temperaturesThis makes it the greatest contributor to the elevation of sea level in the world.

Ancylonmaic Algae species flourish on plots of ice, called ablation areas, which are exposed when the snow line retreats to the glacial cap each summer. The flowers darken ice, reducing its reflectivity and absorbing more heat, thus improving the melting in these areas of about 10 to 13%.

To better understand this feedback loop, Bradley and his colleagues collected Ancylonmaic Samples of the southwest tip of the ice cap and have examined the cells with advanced imaging techniques.

The results have revealed that algae are very suitable for nutrient -poor conditions, which suggests that they could make Ice Percées at higher altitudes, where nutrients are rare.

Global warming already leads to a retreat from the snow line at increased altitudes over time, exposing more ice cream, which is less reflective than snow and therefore accelerates the cast iron. Ice seaweed add another layer to these interactions which will have to be taken into account in future climatic projections.

“We have been studying glacier algae flowers for several years now, but one of the large remaining questions was the way they are capable of moving on to numbers so high in such a ice cream low in nutrients,” said Christopher Williamson At the University of Bristol, in the United Kingdom, which was not involved in the project. “Much of the understanding of this puzzle is the quantity of nutrients including glacier algae cells and whether they are able to take effectively and store rare nutrients available in the system. This study does an excellent job to demonstrate these things using advanced methodologies. ”