General Earth and Planetary Sciences; General Environmental Science
Abstract :
[en] AbstractMelting glacier ice surfaces host active microbial communities that enhance glacial melt, contribute to biogeochemical cycling, and nourish downstream ecosystems; but these communities remain poorly characterised. Over the coming decades, the forecast ‘peak melt’ of Earth’s glaciers necessitates an improvement in understanding the state and fate of supraglacial ecosystems to better predict the effects of climate change upon glacial surfaces and catchment biogeochemistry. Here we show a regionally consistent mean microbial abundance of 104 cells mL−1 in surface meltwaters from eight glaciers across Europe and North America, and two sites in western Greenland. Microbial abundance is correlated with suspended sediment concentration, but not with ice surface hydraulic properties. We forecast that release of these microbes from surfaces under a medium carbon emission scenario (RCP 4.5) will deliver 2.9 × 1022 cells yr−1, equivalent to 0.65 million tonnes yr−1 of cellular carbon, to downstream ecosystems over the next ~80 years.
Research Center/Unit :
SPHERES - ULiège
Disciplines :
Earth sciences & physical geography
Author, co-author :
Stevens, Ian T.
Irvine-Fynn, Tristram D. L.
Edwards, Arwyn
Mitchell, Andrew C.
Cook, Joseph M.
Porter, Philip R.
Holt, Tom O.
Huss, Matthias
Fettweis, Xavier ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de géographie > Climatologie et Topoclimatologie
Moorman, Brian J.
Sattler, Birgit
Hodson, Andy J.
Language :
English
Title :
Spatially consistent microbial biomass and future cellular carbon release from melting Northern Hemisphere glacier surfaces
Publication date :
10 November 2022
Journal title :
Communications Earth and Environment
eISSN :
2662-4435
Publisher :
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Volume :
3
Issue :
1
Peer reviewed :
Peer reviewed
Tags :
CÉCI : Consortium des Équipements de Calcul Intensif Tier-1 supercomputer
Royal Geographical Society Aberystwyth University NERC - Natural Environment Research Council Royal Society Climate Change Consortium for Wales (C3W) EU INTERACT Higher Education Funding Council for Wales EU INTERACT Welsh Government and Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW): See Cymru National Research Network Rolex Awards for Enterprise Gouvernement du Canada | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Polar Continental Shelf Project
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