Sentences with phrase «of snow algae»

Related sites Information about and images of the snow algae Thomas Vogelmann's home page Chris Field's home page

And if warming Arctic temperatures increase the area of snow algae's preferred habitat of just - below - freezing snow, the microbes might expand their range further.

In their study, the team led by Stefanie Lutz and Liane G. Benning investigated the biodiversity of snow algae and other microbial communities using high - throughput genetic sequencing.

Not exact matches

Algae stain the hot pools with vibrantcolors, reds, blues and oranges, that contrast sharply with the snow, andghostly frost - covered trees ring the mud volcanoes like pieces of sculpture.The earth rumbles, gasps.

Red snow: When snow repeatedly melts partially and then refreezes, the stage is set for a red - pigmented alga, Chlamydomonas nivalis, to take up residence in the thin films of water around the snow particles.

An alga species that grows on glaciers gives the snow a crimson hue, which increases the amount of sunlight that the snow soaks up and makes it melt faster, new measurements confirm.

The snow algae specialist comments on the study: «For the first time ever, researchers have investigated the large - scale effect of microorganisms on the melting of snow and ice the Arctic.»

The blooming leads to a runaway effect: The more glaciers and snow fields thaw the more algae bloom which in turn results in a darkening of the surface which again accelerates melting.

«Cosmopolitan snow algae accelerate the melting of Arctic glaciers.»

It has been known for quite some time that red pigmented snow algae blooming on icy surfaces darken the surface which in turn leads to less albedo and a higher uptake of heat.

The role of red pigmented snow algae in melting Arctic glaciers has been strongly underestimated, suggests a study to be published in NATURE Communications on June 22.

After the snow cover melts for the season, other species of alga take over.

They found 6 types of algae living at 40 red - snow sites in Norway, Sweden, Greenland and Iceland.

The algae creates vast, colourful fields of what is popularly known as «watermelon snow».

Stefanie Lutz, a PhD student at the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds, and lead author of the study, said: «Our three - week field trip revealed a «microbial garden» of life forms flourishing in this cold environment, including snow algae, bacteria, fungi and even invertebrates.

But enormous blooms of photosynthetic algae also cover the snow - strewn ice sheet every summer.

Chlamydomonas nivalis, the «watermelon snow» described by Lisa Grossman in her article on extreme life (14 June, p 13), is not a type of red algae but a green alga in the Chlorophyta phylum.

SNOW DECORATION Algae turn the snow pink and red on parts of Alaska's Harding IcefiSNOW DECORATION Algae turn the snow pink and red on parts of Alaska's Harding Icefisnow pink and red on parts of Alaska's Harding Icefield.

Williamson is part of a five - year project investigating the impact of ice algae, which is different than snow algae, and bacteria on the Greenland ice sheet (SN: 5/20/00, p. 328).

The insect also likes a party: In late winter or early spring, these bugs sometimes form huge colonies, as wide as a yard, with millions of individuals migrating together like a superorganism, devouring the algae that grow on wet, decomposing leaf litter in the melting snow, Schulz explains.

The algae and its marine snow aggregates can serve as a major food source for other forms of marine life like plankton - eating fish and shellfish.

Mountaineers trekking through snow on every continent besides Africa have reported seeing Chlamydomonas nivalis — sometimes called watermelon algae because of its color and faint fruity scent.

In some areas, they boosted the growth of the algae by dousing the snow in fertilizer.

This image shows how snow algae increased across Alaska's Harding Icefield over the summer of 2013.

By the end of the test, snow that got extra algae was three times as likely to have melted to slush or down to a layer of ice beneath it.

A pinkish colored algae develops on top of the snow.

Tiny algae called Marine Snow located under the ice in Antarctica may hold the key to understanding the food chain for a huge part of the ocean.

Consider the possibility that not just millions, but billions face disastrous consequences from the likes of (including but not limited to): Sandy (and other hybrid and out - of - season storms enhanced by the earth's circulatory eccentricities and warmer oceans); the drought in progress; wildfires; floods (just last week, Argentina had 16 inches of rain in 2 hours *); derechos; increased cold and snow in the north as the Arctic melts and cracks up, breaking up the Arctic circulation and sending cold out of what was previously largely a contained system, and losing its own consistent cold, seriously interfering with the Jet Stream, pollution of multiple kinds such as in China, the increase of algae and the like in our oceans as they heat, and food and water shortages.

These algae can change the albedo of snow, affecting the rate of Arctic snowmelt.

However, there are also changes in the albedo of snow due to growth of biological communities based on algae when nutrients are deposited on snow.