Happy Saint Paddy's Day?! Algae turns Antarctic ice green

• Main Author: Lieser, JL
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: sputniknews.com 2017
• Subjects: Earth Sciences; Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience; Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience not elsewhere classified; Antarctic; Granite Harbor; Antarc*; Antarctica; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://ecite.utas.edu.au/115321

Luck of the Irish? NASAs Operational Land Imager (OLI) has releasedphotos of a huge patch of Antarctic ice that has turned a spectral shade ofgreen.The colorful ice is located at Granite Harbor in southern Antarctica, and spans a 16-mile(26 km) stretch. The pale green hue comes from wisps of algae trapped under a layerof slushy sea ice.Marine glaciologist Jan Lieser with Australia's Antarctic Climate and EcosystemsCooperative Research Center explained that the "green color is caused by phytoplanktonat the water's surface that have discolored the sea ice."