A massive algae bloom has stained a Siberian glacier blood-red, and Russian scientists warn that the bloom will cause the ice to melt at a faster rate.
Glaciers are shrinking around the world, contributing to rising sea levels as global warming continues to cause the ice to melt. Melting glaciers can displace people by causing floods. They also cause changes in land configuration, contribute to extreme weather by disrupting weather patterns and threaten natural environments such as sea life. In some areas, glaciers are melting because of rising temperatures, but in Russia a cold-thriving unicellular alga called Chlamydomonas nivalis is contributing to the melting by reducing the glacier's reflectivity.
Tomsk State University (TSU) scientists in Russia conducted a study of glaciers in the Altai Mountains to examine the reduction in the ice as part of an ongoing strategic project called Global Earth Changes: Climate, Ecology, Quality of Life. Scientists are working to observe a full carbon cycle in the Russian and North Asian Arctic to produce a long-term forecast of the Arctic system, according to a webpage dedicated to the project.
During the study, TSU research scientists identified a concerning trend with melting glaciers, in part caused by the cold-thriving unicellular algae. The algae bloom inside the ice formations.
The green algae can survive frigid temperatures by secreting a red pigment that allows them to survive, according to a report published on Tuesday by The Moscow Times. The pigment stains the snow "blood-red" and reduces the glacier's reflectivity, causing it to melt faster, the report said. Scientists found the blood-red stains on the Waterfall glacier in the Aktru glacier group in the Altai Mountains near Russia's border with Kazakhstan and Mongolia.
TSU scientists collected samples of the algae and sent them to the TSU Institute of Biology for testing to confirm it is C. nivalis.
C. nivalis in the Altai Mountains is no surprise, as it occurs every year in alpine and coastal polar regions and often covers Russian glaciers. However, this year, the algae bloomed in massive numbers not seen for a decade, according to Alexander Yerofeyev, the head of TSU's Laboratory of Glacioclimatology.
Newsweek reached out to TSU by email for comment.
The algae are accelerating loss already occurring in the glacier, which has lost more than 25 percent of its mass in 60 years, according to The Moscow Times. Scientists have not confirmed why the algae bloomed in such a massive amount this year, but they have some ideas.
"Presumably, the reason for such a mass phenomenon is an unusually large amount of snow that fell in the Altai Mountains this winter and remained until the period of their flowering favorable for red algae," Yerofeyev said in a TSU press release about the discovery.
Yerofeyev shared footage of his recent expedition on YouTube. The 15-second clip pans in a sweeping motion, displaying the stained snow, which is also called "watermelon snow" because of its color, The Moscow Times said.
Last winter was the snowiest the Altai highlands had experienced in three decades, according to the Times. Much of the snow covering the glaciers didn't melt until July, providing the prime environment for the red algae to develop.
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Anna Skinner is a Newsweek senior reporter based in Indianapolis. Her focus is reporting on the climate, environment and weather ... Read more
