An international team of researchers from institutions in the UK, Canada, and across Europe found that hundreds of thousands of tons of bacteria are being released from rapidly melting glaciers every year, especially in the northern latitudes.
In their study titled "Spatially Consistent Microbial Biomass and Future Cellular Carbon Release From Melting Northern Hemisphere Glacier Surfaces," which was published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, the team describes sampling glacial runoff from different sites in Europe, Greenland, and North America.
The Number of Bacteria Released Depends on How Fast Glaciers Melt
Glaciers are large bodies of slow-moving ice that were formed for hundreds or thousands of years. However, they are melting at a worrying rate today due to the worsening climate.
BBC News reported that the research team estimates the fast-melting glaciers could result in at least 100,000 tons of bacteria being released into the environment for the next 80 years, which is a number comparable to all cells in the human body.
The number is based on the "moderate warming scenario on the planet calculated by the IPCC, an international panel, of climate experts. They predicted that global temperatures could rise between 2 degrees Celsius and 3 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.
Microbiologist Dr. Arwyn Edwards said that the study showed for the first time the scale of microorganisms living on Earth's glaciers. He noted that the number of microbes being released is dependent on how fast glaciers melt, which means that it could be a lot as the planet continues to warm.
Dr. Edwards further explained that the flow of bacteria into bodies of water could increase and will also significantly impact the quality of water. Although this could happen in the decades to come when glaciers disappear completely. It shows that glaciers seem to be a huge store of frozen water with thousands of different microorganisms that may or may not be harmful to humans.
Collecting Samples From the Glaciers
One of the alarming consequences of melting glaciers is that a virus or strain of bacteria from ancient ice could emerge that is unknown to the human immune system, Phys.org reports. Studying the contents of glaciers could open a rich source of useful compounds to make new medicines, such as antibiotics. But the rate of melting glaciers releasing tons of bacteria is alarming.
Researchers in the new study took samples of melting runoff from glaciers to learn more about the microbial ecosystems to discover possible threats. Their work involved taking samples from eight glaciers in North America and Europe, and two from the Greenland ice cap.
They found hundreds of thousands of tons of bacteria and algae are currently being released from glaciers across the Northern Hemisphere and this might continue for more decades to come.
But the researchers did not study the strains of bacteria in their samples nor determine whether they are active or not as they only estimated their combined biomass, Science Alert reported. That means they could not identify any species that may pose a significant threat to humans. Edwards told BBC that the sample requires further assessment to identify the risk.
RELATED ARTICLE: Satellite Imagery Reveals World's Glaciers Melting Fast, Threat to Sea Levels Raised
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