Science Source
Algae drive enhanced darkening of bare ice on the Greenland ice sheet
- States that surface ablation of the Greenland ice sheet is amplified by surface darkening caused by light-absorbing impurities such as mineral dust, black carbon, and pigmented microbial cells
- Presents the first quantitative assessment of the microbial contribution to the ice sheet surface darkening, based on field measurements of surface reflectance and concentrations of light-absorbing impurities, including pigmented algae, during the 2014 melt season in the southwestern part of the ice sheet
- Finds that the impact of algae on bare ice darkening in the study area was greater than that of non-algal impurities and yielded a net albedo reduction of 0.038 ± 0.0035 for each algal population doubling
- Argues that algal growth is a crucial control of bare ice darkening, and incorporating the algal darkening effect will improve mass balance and sea level projections of the Greenland ice sheet and ice masses elsewhere
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Headline
Dec 15, 2017 | Vox
Greenland's ice sheet is driving global sea level rise. One section is melting 80% faster.
