Posted on 23 March 2017 by greenman3610

This is a re-post from Climate Denial Crock of the Week

5 years ago the idea that microbial, or algal, growth on the Greenland ice sheet was not getting very much attention, although scientists have known for decades that ice was, in fact a habitat for some kinds of micro organisms.

In recent years, several research groups have been looking in detail at the darkening of the ice sheet – and understanding that, as the planet warms, and ice melts, more liquid water means more habitat for bugs, more darkening, more melt,..you get the picture.

I’ve been fortunate to be part of one of these groups, Dark Snow Project, from the beginning, and again fortunate to spend time on ice with members of a new initiative, called “Black and Bloom”, so named as it focuses not just on Black Carbon, a significant source of darkening and melt, but the specialized organisms “blooming” on the ice, shielding themselves from the intense glacial