Climate Change, Greenland and Greed
Two studies released last month, one in the journal Nature Communications and another in Environmental Science and Technology, show a link between algae blooms on the Greenland ice sheet and phosphorus dust blown inland from a narrow band of exposed earth around Greenland’s edge. The connection matters because the algae blooms account for 13 percent of melt runoff in southwest Greenland.
It’s part of a feedback loop – the warming climate continually melts the ice on the world’s largest island, the wind blows the phosphorus dust inland which feeds the algae, the algae darkens the ice and blocks its ability to reflect the sun, which speeds up the melting.
Several countries look at the vanishing ice as an opportunity to control maritime access for military advantage and to extract mineral, oil and gas resources for economic advantage. Mining and drilling would add industrial soot to the feedback loop, likely hastening the ice melt.
Biogeochemist Liane Benning, senior author on both papers says, “The more it melts, the more they (algae) bloom. Really we should just change our habits and not burn so many fossil fuels.”
If Greenland’s ice sheet disappears entirely, sea level could rise 23 feet, submerging coastal cities around the world.
Posted by Donna Gerhauser for Climate Action