THE ANTARCTICA-FACTS

Why are Antarctica's snow mountains turning white to green?

 

It has been observed that some part of the ice is becoming green in coastal Antarctica. For some years a small amount of green ice was seen. But now it is spreading all over the continent. What is the reason for this, why is Antarctica turning green? What if the ice of entire Antarctica melts? Let's study it in detail.

Parts of Antarctica are turning green. It is being told that the reason behind this is global climate change. Therefore, we can say that some color changes are taking place in Antarctica due to climate change.

The University of Cambridge and British Antarctic Survey scientists have researched algae blooms throughout the ice melting on the Antarctic Peninsula. The university team said that the white landscape is changing to green, that is, the snow has started looking green. This is due to the development of new algae and according to researcher, these will create a source of nutrition for other species.

As we know the life forms of algae are subtle, but when they grow together they turn the ice into bright green color and can be seen from space.

Matt Davey, a study leader, said that "land-based life on Antarctica is an important advance in our understanding and the study of how it can change as the climate changes in the coming years". He further explained that "ice algae take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through the photosynthesis process and ice algae are an important component of the continent's strength."

A study was published in the science journal Nature Communications which suggests that scientists have created the first large-scale map of micro-algae growth on the Antarctic Peninsula and can be used to map development progress because The Earth is constantly heating up.

According to Dewey "This is a community. It can potentially create new habitats. This is the beginning of a new ecosystem."

So now we understand that Antarctica is getting green due to micro-algae and this is the result of climate change.

The continental area of ​​Antarctica is an ice-free plain that is only around 0.18% and the Antarctic Peninsula's most vegetated area is about 1.34% of the exposed plain. The British team behind the research believes that with the increase of these algae in the future, which is due to global warming, their range will expand because it is creating the conditions they need to survive.

Algae blooming "green ice" are found on the continent's coastline, especially near the islands on the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. They grow when temperatures are higher than normal between November and February. It has also been observed that algae are also affected by sea birds and mammal, as their excreta provides natural fertilizer for excretion.

Researchers worked on 1,679 sprouts of algae, covering a total area of ​​1.9 square kilometres which is equivalent to the carbon sink or natural atmosphere's ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which is about 479 tones a year. Nearly two-thirds of green algae were found to bloom on small, low-lying islands around the Antarctic Peninsula and have experienced the most intense heat in the world, setting new temperature records this summer. Let us tell you that in the southern areas ice algae are less concentrated. The effects of global warming have been seen more in these peninsular regions.

Another reason behind Antarctica's increasing green color is the growth of moss. Global warming has increased the growth of moss on the Antarctic Peninsula. Most parts of Antarctica are covered with snow but some parts of the peninsula are covered by moss. Every year the moss is increasing.

In June 2017, a study in Current Biology, Widespread Biological Response to Rapid Warming on the Antarctic Peninsula was published.

 

Typically, mosses grow very slowly and accumulate at the end of the growing season in cold polar regions rather than decompose.

Moss is a flower-free, spore-producing plant. They produce spores in small capsules instead of seeds. That is, after conception, a spore genus or capsule is formed inside which thousands of small spores are formed. They do not contain flowers, wood, or real roots. They are Schizoid rather than roots. They are a group of non-vascular plants without vascular tissue.

Algae are a large and diverse group of aquatic organisms that can perform photosynthesis. Algae are chlorophyll), non-vascular, and catastrophic.

 

The body of algae is Tabloid. These are found in freshwater, seawater, hot water springs, mud and river, ponds.

 

Flagella are found to move in some algae. The algae that are found on ice are called cryptophytes and those found on rocks are called lithospheres.

Algae are different from plants such that algae do not have roots, stems, and leaves. Even they do not have a vascular system like plants to transmit water and nutrients in their body. According to a 2014 article that was published in the journal Biology, many algae are unicellular. They also occur in various forms and sizes. They can exist as single, microscopic cells and can even be macroscopic and multicellular, surviving in colonies. Algae are found in both freshwater and saltwater.

 

Climate change is an average condition such as prolonged temperature and rainfall in an area. Due to climate change, the temperature gets warmer, the rainfall changes. Some other effects of Earth warming are:

- Sea level rises.

 

- The shrinking of mountain glaciers.

 

- Melting of ice at a faster rate than normal Greenland seen in Antarctica and the Arctic.

 

Also, change the time of the flowering of flowers and plants. According to scientists, the average temperature of the Earth has been increasing very fast in the last 150 years.

 

Therefore, we can say that climate change is a change in weather patterns, and related changes are seen in oceans, land surfaces, and sheets of ice that have been occurring for decades or more.