The small and mighty: the role of microbes and minerals in melting the Greenland Ice Sheet

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• Prof Liane Benning (GFZ)
• Thursday 08 April 2021, 15:00-16:00
• https://zoom.us/j/93371061442.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Oliver Shorttle.

The rapid melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet and the associated sea level rise is controlled by changes in albedo, which is primarily a consequence of increased light absorbing particulates (LAP) on snow and ice surfaces. Among LAPs, and included in climate models is black carbon. However, other LAPs so far not included in climate models because their role is poorly quantified, are mineral dust and pigmented glacier algae. We will show pigmented algae can reduce albedo by up to ~ 20 %, and that a necessary interplay between geochemical, mineralogical and microbiological parameters helps trigger the annual mineral-nutrient fuelled glacial algal blooms. We ground truth and link surface, airborne and satellite data and determine the role and consequences of water-mineral-microbe interface reactions in shaping large-scale processes across the Greenland Ice Sheet.

This talk is part of the Earth2Earth series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• Department of Earth Sciences Seminars (downtown)
• Department of Earth Sciences seminars
• Earth2Earth
• https://zoom.us/j/93371061442
• ps635

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