Quantifying spatiotemporal variability of glacier algal blooms and the impact on surface albedo in southwestern Greenland

• Published in: The Cryosphere
• Main Authors: S. Wang, M. Tedesco, P. Alexander, M. Xu, X. Fettweis
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2020
• Subjects: Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Geology; QE1-996.5; Greenland; The Sentinel; glacier; Ice Sheet; Jakobshavn; The Cryosphere
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2687-2020; https://doaj.org/article/e52c4960a7a34151a9910ce8606d257a

Albedo reduction due to light-absorbing impurities can substantially enhance ice sheet surface melt by increasing surface absorption of solar energy. Glacier algae have been suggested to play a critical role in darkening the ablation zone in southwestern Greenland. It was very recently found that th...