Every spring when the sun rises in the Arctic after months of darkness, life returns.
Every spring when the sun rises in the Arctic after months of darkness, life returns. The polar bears pop up from their winter lairs, the arctic tern soar back from their long journey south and the musk oxen wade north.
But the animals are not the only life being reawakened by the spring sun. Algae lying dormant on the ice starts blooming in spring blackening large areas of the ice.
When the ice blackens it’s ability to reflect the sun diminishes and this accelerates the melting of the ice. Increased melting exacerbates global warming.
Read more at: Aarhus University
Part of the Greenland Ice sheet with blackened ice caused by algae. (Photo Credit: Shunan Feng)
