Something strange is happening in Greenland, and it’s pretty concerning. The ice there is being covered by dark patches, and it’s not just regular dirt—this stuff is alive! Scientists have discovered that algae are spreading across the ice, and because they're dark, they absorb more sunlight. This causes the ice to melt faster, which could make sea levels rise even quicker. The more the ice melts, the more the algae spread, and it's creating a scary cycle. If this keeps happening, it could have big effects on our planet’s climate. Animation is created by Bright Side.
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FunTranscript
00:006.
00:01Dark patches on Greenland's ice sheet These dark patches on Greenland's ice sheet
00:04aren't just any old stains.
00:07Every summer, the ice, which is usually bright white, turns murky gray in certain areas.
00:13This so-called dark zone was a huge mystery for a long time, until some studies discovered
00:18that this weird transformation was connected to the odd appearance of red, green, and brown-colored
00:24algae.
00:25The scariest part is that this algae bloom keeps growing.
00:29The dark zone is getting darker, and terrifying microbes might start appearing.
00:34Now, the rest of the world should be concerned.
00:38The Greenland ice sheet is like a massive ice blanket that covers around 80% of the
00:43island.
00:44It's so thick that it holds about 8% of the world's freshwater ice.
00:48For most of the year, the ice looks like a giant untouched white sheet stretching over
00:53the land.
00:54But when summer rolls around and temperatures start to rise, things begin to change.
01:00The ice melts, revealing rocky areas along the coast.
01:02And as you move further inland, that once smooth white ice becomes darker.
01:08This is the dark zone, and it covers an area of around 248 miles in length and 62 miles
01:14at its widest point.
01:16This weird phenomenon happens basically for two reasons.
01:20The first one is black carbon.
01:23Just like dust that builds up on your bookshelf, the ice in Greenland has the same issue.
01:28The wind carries a mix of dust and soot to this icy area.
01:32But unlike your bookshelf, you can't just wipe it off with a cloth.
01:36In Greenland's case, this dirty mix settles on the ice and sticks around for thousands
01:41of years.
01:45So the dark zone is basically covered in a fine layer of dust that's built up over time.
01:51Back in 2014, researchers analyzed this dirty mix and found that the darker ice areas were
01:56filled with black carbon.
01:59This black carbon didn't just appear out of thin air.
02:02Well, actually, it sort of did.
02:05Scientists believe it mostly comes from smoke produced by wildfires in northern Canada and
02:09Alaska somewhere in the past.
02:12As you might guess, black carbon is black, which is why it makes the ice look darker.
02:20Now the second big reason for the Greenland ice sheet's summer makeover has to do with
02:24those algae we mentioned earlier.
02:27We're mostly talking about two types of it, the Anselonoma alaskana and the Anselonoma
02:33nordensholdii.
02:35Both of them love cold water regions.
02:38During winter, they stay in a dormant state deep within the ice.
02:42But when spring comes, they start to slowly migrate to the surface.
02:46By the time summer hits, they're ready to bloom and soak up nearly 24 hours of sunlight
02:51each day for photosynthesis and growth.
02:54Normally, these algae are green, but when exposed to sunlight, they turn brown as a
03:00natural way to protect themselves from harmful ultraviolet rays.
03:04And this color change is also what makes the ice in Greenland look darker.
03:12So far, this has been normal behavior.
03:14What's really alarming is that these algae blooms are getting bigger and bigger every
03:18year.
03:19This happens because they thrive on phosphorus, a nutrient that's plentiful out there and
03:24comes from a mineral called hydroxylapatite.
03:28This mineral is found in a type of rock that breaks down into tiny dust particles, which
03:33are then blown across the ice by the wind.
03:36As the climate gets warmer, the rocks dry out more, and stronger winds carry more dust.
03:42More dust means more phosphorus, leading to more algae growth.
03:47See?
03:48It is a cycle, and it keeps getting worse every year.
03:52Studying this is crucial to understanding why the dark zone keeps getting bigger.
03:57From the year 2000 to 2012, its size increased by 12%.
04:05But you might be wondering, why should we care?
04:08After all, it's just ice getting darker, right?
04:11Well, not exactly.
04:13Think about how you can't stand wearing black clothes on a hot sunny day.
04:17They soak up the heat and make you feel even hotter.
04:20That's because darker surfaces absorb more sunlight.
04:23The same thing happens to ice.
04:25Together, dust, black carbon, and algae blooms are responsible for about 70% of the variability
04:32in albedo on the Greenland ice sheet.
04:36Albedo is just a fancy word for how reflective a surface is.
04:40If you take two surfaces, one white and shiny, and the other dark and rough, the white one
04:45will reflect a lot of light and heat, giving it a high albedo.
04:50The dark one, on the other hand, will absorb more light and heat, so it has a low albedo.
04:58During the summer, the Greenland ice sheet experiences a reduction in albedo.
05:03This means the ice absorbs more sunlight, and when ice absorbs more sunlight, it melts
05:08faster than it should.
05:09This is why understanding what's happening in the dark zone is so important.
05:14It helps predict how quickly the Greenland ice sheet is melting and how it can affect
05:19the rest of the world.
05:23Greenland's ice sheet is the second largest in the world, covering an area about the size
05:28of all the land in the United States east of the Mississippi River, and its huge mass
05:33of ice averages a thickness of 1.4 miles.
05:38Unfortunately, the ice loss has skyrocketed.
05:41Back in the 1990s, Greenland was losing about 25 billion tons of ice per year.
05:47Now it's losing around 234 billion tons per year.
05:53That's nearly 10 times more ice melting away each year.
06:00According to NASA, if all of Greenland's ice sheet were to melt, it would increase
06:04global sea levels by about 24 feet.
06:08That could be catastrophic for coastal countries and cities around the world.
06:12The Netherlands could be submerged, the Bahamas could be almost completely wiped out, and
06:18many of the Philippines' islands would be at risk of disappearing.
06:22All of this may seem like a distant reality, and it is true that most scientists believe
06:28it would take several hundred or even thousands of years for the ice sheet to melt completely.
06:34But it is important to know that Greenland didn't always have this thick layer of
06:38ice.
06:40Very recently, researchers took a close look at some sediment from the bottom of a two-mile
06:44deep ice core extracted from the center of Greenland.
06:48They found that the soil had traces of willow wood, insect parts, fungi, and even poppy
06:54seeds.
06:55So these fossils are the first direct evidence that Greenland's ice sheet melted away
06:59in the recent geological past, around 400,000 years ago.
07:05At that time, Greenland was home to a green tundra landscape with insects and plants.
07:11This discovery is both fascinating and scary because it shows that the ice sheet collapsed
07:16before and might be more fragile than scientists originally thought.
07:23There is another concern, too.
07:25A recent research collected meltwater from different spots on the Greenland ice sheet
07:30and found that the water samples were packed with hundreds and thousands of microbes.
07:35The concern is that they could be released into the ocean in the future.
07:39And some studies already suggest that areas near where a lot of glacial meltwater flows
07:45have a higher risk of viruses jumping to new hosts, like from animals to humans.
07:52Even though experts believe the chance of a doomsday virus coming from the glaciers
07:56is very small, it's still not zero.
08:00The truth is, we don't know much about the thousands of microbial species living on the
08:05surface of the ice, and there is simply not enough data to fully understand how dangerous
08:11these organisms might be.
08:14All of this might sound concerning, but we shouldn't panic just yet.
08:18There's still a lot we don't understand about what is darkening the Greenland ice
08:22sheet.
08:23We still need more detailed measurements of the relative abundance of dust, algae, and
08:28black carbon, as well as a better understanding of how these potentially dangerous microbes
08:33could affect our lives.
08:35The more we learn, the better we can predict what's going to happen and how we can prepare
08:39for it.
08:41That's it for today!
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