In June's Discover Magazine, science writer Elizabeth Preston explored the mysterious world of icy microbes, focussing on cryoconite. I was lucky enough to chat to Elizabeth several times and provide some photos for the article. Elizabeth described how cryoconite granules form when mineral particles and other debris are "ensnared... in the sticky arms of cyanobacteria" … Continue reading Discover Magazine: Ecosystem Engineers on ice
Tag: greenland
Biocryomorphic evolution on the Greenland Ice Sheet
Our new paper, "Metabolome induced biocryomorphic evolution promotes carbon fixation in Greenlandic cryoconite holes" came out this week. The main finding is that cryoconite holes can change their shape in three dimensions to maintain comfortable conditions for microbial life - an example of biocryomorphology in action. Here's a summary of the main points: Cryoconite holes … Continue reading Biocryomorphic evolution on the Greenland Ice Sheet
NEP Video
Here is a quick video I made outlining the well-known "total dissolved inorganic carbon" (TDIC) procedure for measuring Net Ecosystem Productivity. It is a very basic aide-memoir for undergraduate and postgraduate students showing the major steps in the TDIC procedure. There is a paper document to accompany this video available to students working in the labs at the … Continue reading NEP Video
New Scientist’s “Icy Oases” Article: The full interviews!
New scientist recently published an article introducing cryoconite holes as oases for microbial life on ice surfaces. As 'new scientists' working on cryoconite, colleagues Arwyn Edwards (Aberystwyth University), Karen Cameron (GEUS / Dark Snow Project) and I were interviewed by science writer Nick Kennedy. Of course only a few sound-bites made it into the final … Continue reading New Scientist’s “Icy Oases” Article: The full interviews!
Carbon Flux Modelling
C Flux Modelling To date, three attempts have been made to model carbon (C) fluxes in the supraglacial environment, all in the past five years. These models tried to reconcile 'snapshot' measurements of net ecosystem productivity (relative rates of photosynthesis and respiration - NEP) made at a small number of sites with atmospheric carbon fluxes … Continue reading Carbon Flux Modelling
Nutrient Cycling on Glaciers 2: Carbon
Carbon cycling on glaciers has received a lot of attention over the past decade because it impacts glacier albedo and therefore melt rates, as well as regional atmospheric carbon concentrations. Atmospheric carbon concentrations and glacier retreat are known to be tightly coupled at a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. This article will concentrate … Continue reading Nutrient Cycling on Glaciers 2: Carbon
Microbes on Ice: Climate Amplifiers?
I recently published an introduction to glacier microbiology on the climate-science website Climatica: Here's a link... http://climatica.org.uk/microbes-ice-climate-amplifiers For anyone interested in climate science and wanting an introduction to a wealth of relevant articles and links, Climatica is a great resource well worth having a thorough browse! For more information, the reference list below includes some … Continue reading Microbes on Ice: Climate Amplifiers?
Nutrient Cycling on Glaciers 1: Nitrogen
Nutrient cycling has been a central theme of glacier microbiology in the twenty-first century. Here is a run-down of the fundamentals, focussing on the major ones: nitrogen and carbon. Nitrogen's up first... The Nitrogen Cycle: Nitrogen is a key nutrient required for synthesising crucial organic molecules such as nucleotides, proteins, and chlorophyll. Nitrogen availability also … Continue reading Nutrient Cycling on Glaciers 1: Nitrogen
The old boys: ahead of the curve!
In the past decade or so, interest in glacier microbiology and "bioalbedo" has intensified, but it is important to remember that these ideas are not new. In fact, the early polar explorers wrote on these topics over 150 years ago and even identified species of algae in cryoconite and the role of ice algae for … Continue reading The old boys: ahead of the curve!
Glacier carbon fluxes on Antarcticglaciers.org
I wrote an article about carbon on glacier ice for Antarcticglaciers.org which went online today. I'm really happy to have contributed to this great website! Check it out here. For any of my students who read this - explore the Antarcticglaciers website, it is a great resource for cryosphere information to supplement the lecture material!
To The Poles 