The Greenland ice sheet contains nutrients from precipitation
Wednesday, November 4, 2015 - 12:30
in Earth & Climate
New research shows that the ice sheet on Greenland contains the nutrient phosphorus, which was carried by the atmosphere across the country, where it fell with precipitation. Studies of the ice core drilling through the kilometers-thick ice sheet shows that there are differences in the amount of phosphorus in warm and cold climate periods. This new knowledge is important for understanding how many nutrients can be expected to flow into the Arctic Ocean when the climate warms and the ice melts and flows into the sea, where nutrients give rise to increased algae growth. The results have been published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.