Pigment signatures of algal communities and their implications for glacier surface darkening
Blooms of pigmented algae darken the surface of glaciers and ice sheets, thereby enhancing solar energy absorption and amplifying ice and snow melt. The impacts of algal pigment and community composition on surface darkening are still poorly understood. Here, we characterise glacier ice and snow alg...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2022
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/37653 https://doi.org/10.17169/refubium-37368 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-22271-4 |
id |
ftfuberlin:oai:refubium.fu-berlin.de:fub188/37653 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftfuberlin:oai:refubium.fu-berlin.de:fub188/37653 2023-05-15T16:21:14+02:00 Pigment signatures of algal communities and their implications for glacier surface darkening Halbach, Laura Chevrollier, Lou-Anne Doting, Eva L. Cook, Joseph M. Jensen, Marie B. Benning, Liane G. Bradley, James A. Hansen, Martin Lund-Hansen, Lars C. Markager, Stiig 2022 14 Seiten application/pdf https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/37653 https://doi.org/10.17169/refubium-37368 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-22271-4 eng eng https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/37653 http://dx.doi.org/10.17169/refubium-37368 doi:10.1038/s41598-022-22271-4 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY Freshwater ecology Microbial ecology Water microbiology ddc:570 doc-type:article 2022 ftfuberlin https://doi.org/10.17169/refubium-37368 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-22271-4 2023-01-22T23:24:22Z Blooms of pigmented algae darken the surface of glaciers and ice sheets, thereby enhancing solar energy absorption and amplifying ice and snow melt. The impacts of algal pigment and community composition on surface darkening are still poorly understood. Here, we characterise glacier ice and snow algal pigment signatures on snow and bare ice surfaces and study their role in photophysiology and energy absorption on three glaciers in Southeast Greenland. Purpurogallin and astaxanthin esters dominated the glacier ice and snow algal pigment pools (mass ratios to chlorophyll a of 32 and 56, respectively). Algal biomass and pigments impacted chromophoric dissolved organic matter concentrations. Despite the effective absorption of astaxanthin esters at wavelengths where incoming irradiance peaks, the cellular energy absorption of snow algae was 95% lower than anticipated from their pigmentation, due to pigment packaging. The energy absorption of glacier ice algae was consequently ~ 5 × higher. On bare ice, snow algae may have locally contributed up to 13% to total biological radiative forcing, despite contributing 44% to total biomass. Our results give new insights into the impact of algal community composition on bare ice energy absorption and biomass accumulation during snow melt. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Greenland ice algae Freie Universität Berlin: Refubium (FU Berlin) Greenland |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Freie Universität Berlin: Refubium (FU Berlin) |
op_collection_id |
ftfuberlin |
language |
English |
topic |
Freshwater ecology Microbial ecology Water microbiology ddc:570 |
spellingShingle |
Freshwater ecology Microbial ecology Water microbiology ddc:570 Halbach, Laura Chevrollier, Lou-Anne Doting, Eva L. Cook, Joseph M. Jensen, Marie B. Benning, Liane G. Bradley, James A. Hansen, Martin Lund-Hansen, Lars C. Markager, Stiig Pigment signatures of algal communities and their implications for glacier surface darkening |
topic_facet |
Freshwater ecology Microbial ecology Water microbiology ddc:570 |
description |
Blooms of pigmented algae darken the surface of glaciers and ice sheets, thereby enhancing solar energy absorption and amplifying ice and snow melt. The impacts of algal pigment and community composition on surface darkening are still poorly understood. Here, we characterise glacier ice and snow algal pigment signatures on snow and bare ice surfaces and study their role in photophysiology and energy absorption on three glaciers in Southeast Greenland. Purpurogallin and astaxanthin esters dominated the glacier ice and snow algal pigment pools (mass ratios to chlorophyll a of 32 and 56, respectively). Algal biomass and pigments impacted chromophoric dissolved organic matter concentrations. Despite the effective absorption of astaxanthin esters at wavelengths where incoming irradiance peaks, the cellular energy absorption of snow algae was 95% lower than anticipated from their pigmentation, due to pigment packaging. The energy absorption of glacier ice algae was consequently ~ 5 × higher. On bare ice, snow algae may have locally contributed up to 13% to total biological radiative forcing, despite contributing 44% to total biomass. Our results give new insights into the impact of algal community composition on bare ice energy absorption and biomass accumulation during snow melt. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Halbach, Laura Chevrollier, Lou-Anne Doting, Eva L. Cook, Joseph M. Jensen, Marie B. Benning, Liane G. Bradley, James A. Hansen, Martin Lund-Hansen, Lars C. Markager, Stiig |
author_facet |
Halbach, Laura Chevrollier, Lou-Anne Doting, Eva L. Cook, Joseph M. Jensen, Marie B. Benning, Liane G. Bradley, James A. Hansen, Martin Lund-Hansen, Lars C. Markager, Stiig |
author_sort |
Halbach, Laura |
title |
Pigment signatures of algal communities and their implications for glacier surface darkening |
title_short |
Pigment signatures of algal communities and their implications for glacier surface darkening |
title_full |
Pigment signatures of algal communities and their implications for glacier surface darkening |
title_fullStr |
Pigment signatures of algal communities and their implications for glacier surface darkening |
title_full_unstemmed |
Pigment signatures of algal communities and their implications for glacier surface darkening |
title_sort |
pigment signatures of algal communities and their implications for glacier surface darkening |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/37653 https://doi.org/10.17169/refubium-37368 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-22271-4 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
glacier Greenland ice algae |
genre_facet |
glacier Greenland ice algae |
op_relation |
https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/37653 http://dx.doi.org/10.17169/refubium-37368 doi:10.1038/s41598-022-22271-4 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.17169/refubium-37368 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-22271-4 |
_version_ |
1766009241755189248 |