The mystery of Arctic’s green ice, NASA images reveal a strange phenomenon caused by Plankton. A massive blooms of Phytoplankton is growing under Arctic sea.
It is too dark, that might be an effect on photosynthesis to survive. Now the researcher of Harvard A.Paulson found, that thinning Arctic’s sea ice may be responsible for frequent and extensive Phytoplankton blooms. Phytoplankton at the water surface is discovering the Arctic Sea ice to green color, which is nothing but a one kind of toxic.
An information shared by ENN that Phytoplankton underpins the entire Arctic food web. In every summer, when the Arctic’s sea ice retreats, sunlight hitting the open water and triggers a massive blooms of plankton.
These plums attract fish, which attract larger predators provides food for indigenous communities living in the Arctic Sea. Experts claimed that Phytoplankton shouldn’t be able to grow under the Arctic’s sea. The Arctic’s ice reflects the sunlight into space and blocking it from reaching the water below.
Nowadays Arctic sea ice is thinner and darker due to Global Warming and allowing more and more sunlight to penetrate to the water beneath, SEAS reported. Now on the surface of the ice, large size dark pool is known as melt ponds. It has increased and lowered the reflectivity of the ice.
However, here one question may arise that how much sunlight gets transmitted through the Arctic’s sea ice. According to Chris Horvat, applied mathematician on SEAS said that the thickness, which has been decreasing day by day and the percent of melt ponds has been increasing.
Near about 20 years ago, three to four percent of Arctic sea ice was thin enough to allow large colonies of plankton to blooms underneath. But now a recent study found that nearly 30 percent of the ice-covered Arctic Ocean permits sub-ice blooms in summer months.
The foundation of the Arctic food web is now growing at a different time and in places that are less accessible to animals that need oxygen. At the same time, the researchers hope their model will be very much helpful for planning future. Finally, the researchers are still trying to observe these blooms in the Arctic sea and measuring the effect on the ecosystem.
