Climate change turning Antarctica's snow green

By Martyn Herman

 

FILE PHOTO: An iceberg floats near Lemaire Channel, Antarctica, February 5, 2020. Picture taken February 5, 2020. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Antarctica conjures images of an unbroken white wilderness but blooms of algae are giving parts of the frozen continent an increasingly green tinge.

 

Warming temperatures due to climate change are helping the formation and spread of "green snow" and it is becoming so prolific in places that it is even visible from space, according to new research published on Wednesday.

 

While the presence of algae in Antarctica was noted by long-ago expeditions, such as the one undertaken by British explorer Ernest Shackleton, its full extent was unknown.

 

Now, using data collected over two years by the European Space Agency's Sentinel 2 satellite, together with on-the-ground observations, a research team from the University of Cambridge and the British Antarctic Survey have created the first map of the algae blooms on the Antarctic Peninsula coast.

 

"We now have a baseline of where the algal blooms are and we can see whether the blooms will start increasing as the models suggest in the future," Matt Davey of the University of Cambridge's Department of Plant Sciences told Reuters.

 

Mosses and lichens are considered the dominant photosynthetic organisms in Antarctica - but the new mapping found 1,679 separate algal blooms that are a key component in the continent's ability to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

 

"The algal blooms in Antarctica are equivalent to about the amount of carbon that's being omitted by 875,000 average UK petrol car journeys," Davey said. "That seems a lot but in terms of the global carbon budget, it's insignificant.

 

"It does take up carbon from the atmosphere but it won't make any serious dent in the amount of carbon dioxide being put in the atmosphere at the moment."

 

Green is not the only splash of colour in Antarctica. Researchers are now planning similar studies on red and orange algae, although that is proving harder to map from space.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-05-20

 

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So, is it a good or a bad thing?

20 minutes ago, Thunder26 said:

So, is it a good or a bad thing?

Green good, yellow not good to eat, red not good if you're a baby fur seal?

22 minutes ago, Kinnock said:

red not good if you're a baby fur seal?

What's a baby seals favourite drink?

Canadian club on the rocks.

Thank God for global warming. We should see more farmable land as a result. Hopefully, CO2 levels will also rise, as life on Earth flourished with CO2 over 1,000ppm.

"Green is not the only splash of colour in Antarctica. Researchers are now planning similar studies on red and orange algae, although that is proving harder to map from space."

 

Paisley is almost impossible to map from space.  Unfortunately, as that's my favourite it's doubtful I'll ever get to see any images from space.

 

When it starts snowing green wake me up as that would be truly alarming.

6 hours ago, Crazy Alex said:

Thank God for global warming. We should see more farmable land as a result. Hopefully, CO2 levels will also rise, as life on Earth flourished with CO2 over 1,000ppm.

Your joking right? More farmable land, where in Antartica or Alaska, as Oceans rise more land mass is not created, it is lost except where the snow and glaciers have receded.  Not sure where you believe there will be more farmable land.....

I take it the panic over COVID-19 is waning 

Oh Lord Greta, thou shalt save us. Hallelujah! 

Edited May 20, 20206 yr by Retarded

7 hours ago, Crazy Alex said:

Thank God for global warming. We should see more farmable land as a result. Hopefully, CO2 levels will also rise, as life on Earth flourished with CO2 over 1,000ppm.

 

If the UK thought Brexit and Covid19 were fun, wait until the ocean conveyor shuts down because the sea water gets too fresh from melting glaciers.

 

12 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The algal blooms in Antarctica are equivalent to about the amount of carbon that's being omitted by 875,000 average UK petrol car journeys,"

 

Omitted?

 

I wonder what else "snoop" gets wrong....

 

I don't see how the photo is relevant. Algal blooms far as I know are in the sea, so what has snow got to do with it?

Yes the Iceberg look green it's the reflection of the Ocean.????    

13 minutes ago, ratchaburi said:

Yes the Iceberg look green it's the reflection of the Ocean.????    

that was exactly my thought and i was about to post ....

don't worry ... Greta will be on top of it ....

45 minutes ago, steven100 said:

that was exactly my thought and i was about to post ....

don't worry ... Greta will be on top of it ....

 

She is sailing her vaccinated yacht bringing Clorox wipes to kill the algae.

1 hour ago, ratchaburi said:

Yes the Iceberg look green it's the reflection of the Ocean.????    

Looks blue to me.

10 hours ago, Crazy Alex said:

Thank God for global warming. We should see more farmable land as a result. Hopefully, CO2 levels will also rise, as life on Earth flourished with CO2 over 1,000ppm.

yep

need more of it

Usually an article such as this is, where it is supposed something is not exactly as it was a few years ago, is accompanied by suggestions that it can be fixed by raising taxes and transferring cash to poorer states.   Guess they forgot to do that (yet).   One of the positives of Covid is it has pushed the usual daily bombardment off the front pages.

An inflammatory post has been removed

This is great, an article like this, you don't even have to raise a pinky to flush out the expat transplant "mcdonalds-burger-flip-skill" $100,000-yr Bluto planet destructo frackwell grunt workers. They flop like fish right on to the comment section deck.

4 hours ago, Salerno said:

I take it the panic over COVID-19 is waning 

106,000 new infections worldwide registered yesterday. Said to be the most ever in one day.

16 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

We now have a baseline of where the algal blooms are and we can see whether the blooms will start increasing as the models suggest in the future

 

16 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

While the presence of algae in Antarctica was noted by long-ago expeditions, such as the one undertaken by British explorer Ernest Shackleton, its full extent was unknown.

Very 'sensational' headline, but lacks substantiated data. Typical garbage writing. Published by Reuters, right? Typical fake news.

13 hours ago, Thunder26 said:

So, is it a good or a bad thing?

Yes! Definitely yes!   ????

 How to order a smoothie for a whale in karaoke Thai: "Algae pan, geow yai maak, nan kaeng yeu maak, maak"

 

 

 

8 hours ago, jb5music said:

This is great, an article like this, you don't even have to raise a pinky to flush out the expat transplant "mcdonalds-burger-flip-skill" $100,000-yr Bluto planet destructo frackwell grunt workers. They flop like fish right on to the comment section deck.

 Cranium incognito