Glacier Shrinkage Is Causing a “Green Transition”

A team of scientists from EPFL and Charles University in Prague have discovered that microbial life is set to thrive in mountain streams, as a result of ongoing glacier shrinkage. Their findings, published in Nature Geoscience, stem from an analysis of samples taken from 154 glacier-fed streams across the globe. This research is part of the Vanishing Glaciers project, spearheaded by EPFL and funded by the NOMIS Foundation.

Glacier-fed streams are murky, raging torrents in the summer. Large quantities of glacial meltwater churn up rocks and sediment, allowing very little light to reach the streambed, while freezing temperatures and snow in other seasons provide little opportunity for a rich microbiome to develop. But, as glaciers shrink under the effects of global warming, the volume of water originating from glaciers is declining.

That means the streams are becoming warmer, calmer, and clearer, giving algae and other microorganisms an opportunity to become abundant and to contribute more to local carbon and nutrient cycles.