Mineral phosphorus drives glacier algal blooms on the Greenland Ice Sheet

• Published in: Nature Communications
• Main Authors: McCutcheon, Jenine, Lutz, Stefanie, Williamson, Christopher, Cook, Joseph M., Tedstone, Andrew J., Vanderstraeten, Aubry, Wilson, Siobhan A., Stockdale, Anthony, Bonneville, Steeve, Anesio, Alexandre M., Yallop, Marian L., McQuaid, James B., Tranter, Martyn, Benning, Liane G.
• Other Authors: RCUK | Natural Environment Research Council, Helmholtz Association | Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam - Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Science and Business Media LLC 2021
• Subjects: General Physics and Astronomy; General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology; General Chemistry; Greenland; glacier; ice algae; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20627-w; http://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20627-w.pdf; http://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20627-w

Abstract Melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet is a leading cause of land-ice mass loss and cryosphere-attributed sea level rise. Blooms of pigmented glacier ice algae lower ice albedo and accelerate surface melting in the ice sheet’s southwest sector. Although glacier ice algae cause up to 13% of the surface melting in this region, the controls on bloom development remain poorly understood. Here we show a direct link between mineral phosphorus in surface ice and glacier ice algae biomass through the quantification of solid and fluid phase phosphorus reservoirs in surface habitats across the southwest ablation zone of the ice sheet. We demonstrate that nutrients from mineral dust likely drive glacier ice algal growth, and thereby identify mineral dust as a secondary control on ice sheet melting.