The study shows that Arctic ice is not as lifeless as it might seem at first glance.
The Arctic glaciers may seem completely devoid of life, but scientists assure that this is not the case at all. In fact, carpets of ice and snow in Greenland and Iceland are literally teeming with microscopic lifeforms.
Moreover, many of these organisms, like seasonal zombies, hibernate in winter and awaken from an icy sleep as summer begins and glaciers melt. According to a microbiologist at Aarhus University in Sweden, Alexander Anesio, about 4,000 different species can easily wake up in even a small pool of glacial meltwater.
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The researchers note that these microscopic organisms mainly thrive on bacteria, algae, viruses, and microscopic fungi. In fact, they represent an entire ecosystem that researchers were long unaware of.
Everything changed when scientists studied ice and snow on two glaciers, one in Iceland and the other in Greenland, from mid to late summer. More than half of the bacteria discovered by scientists were active, the rest were dormant or dead. But what was interesting was that the scientists found that just a day after the ice melted, some of these “inactive microbes” resurrected and regained the ability to read genes and produce the building blocks of amino acids. The results of the study show that the samples contained 35% more active microbes after just 3 days of thawing in the laboratory.
The researchers’ findings show that microbial communities on snow and ice can actually respond quickly to melting ice. Adapting to climate change is often seen as highly beneficial, Anesio said, but it also means that a sudden change in one organism can destabilize the entire ecosystem.
Earlier research suggests that the future will see more precipitation and winter warming in the Arctic. At the same time, scientists know that some microbes are already thriving in the slush, which means the situation could get worse in the future.
For example, microbiologists have noticed that dark purple snow moss, which appears best in Greenland’s meltwater, has recently begun to spread more. Anesio notes that you can see more and more areas of dark ice in Greenland today due to algae. In contrast, the darker appearance of the ice means it absorbs more sunlight, leading to a 20% increase in ice melting.
The scientists also note that current climate models do not take into account snow algae and their impact on climate change. However, there may be a reason why Greenland’s glaciers are actually melting faster than before. And it’s just one of those factors.
Previously Focus He wrote that the Arctic was inexorably “losing weight”: scientists have shown detailed thinning of sea ice over the past 30 years.
Source: Focus
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