Algal photophysiology drives darkening and melt of the Greenland Ice Sheet

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
• Main Authors: Williamson, Christopher J, Cook, Joseph, Tedstone, Andrew, Yallop, Marian, McCutcheon, Jenine, Poniecka, Ewa, Campbell, Douglas, Irvine-Fynn, Tristram, McQuaid, James, Tranter, Martyn, Perkins, Rupert, Anesio, Alexandre
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Greenland Ice Sheet; glacier algae; photophysiology; melt; cryosphere; glacier; Greenland; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1983/31dba669-7087-4b5c-81e7-0cb3d899b718; https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/31dba669-7087-4b5c-81e7-0cb3d899b718; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1918412117; https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/files/223141377/Williamson_et_al._2020_algal_photophysiology_drives_darkening_and_melt_of_the_greenland_ice_sheet.pdf

Blooms of Zygnematophycean “glacier algae” lower the bare ice albedo of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS), amplifying summer en- ergy absorption at the ice surface and enhancing meltwater runoff from the largest cryospheric contributor to contemporary sea-level rise. Here, we provide a step change in current understanding of algal-driven ice sheet darkening through quantification of the photophysiological mechanisms that allow glacier algae to thrive on and darken the bare ice surface. Significant secondary phe- nolic pigmentation (11 times the cellular content of chlorophyll a) enables glacier algae to tolerate extreme irradiance (up to ∼4,000 μmol photons·m−2·s−1) while simultaneously repurposing captured ultraviolet and short-wave radiation for melt generation. Total cellular energy absorption is increased 50-fold by pheno- lic pigmentation, while glacier algal chloroplasts positioned be- neath shading pigments remain low-light–adapted (Ek ∼46 μmol photons·m−2·s−1) and dependent upon typical nonphotochemical quenching mechanisms for photoregulation. On the GrIS, glacier algae direct only ∼1 to 2.4% of incident energy to photochemistry versus 48 to 65% to ice surface melting, contributing an additional ∼1.86 cm water equivalent surface melt per day in patches of high algal abundance (∼104 cells·mL−1). At the regional scale, surface darkening is driven by the direct and indirect impacts of glacier algae on ice albedo, with a significant negative relationship between broadband albedo (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer [MODIS]) and glacier algal biomass (R2 = 0.75, n = 149), indicating that up to 75% of the variability in albedo across the southwestern GrIS may be attributable to the presence of glacier algae.