Steps for success of OCO-2
Steps for success of OCO-2
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DOI:
10.1038/ngeo2255
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发表时间:
2014-10
影响因子:
18.3
通讯作者:
John B. Miller;P. Tans;M. Gloor
中科院分区:
文献类型:
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作者:
John B. Miller;P. Tans;M. Gloor
To the Editor—Dumont et al. 1 recently suggested that the springtime darkening of the Greenland Ice Sheet since 2009 is a consequence of an increased load of light-absorbing impurities in snow. They proposed that the impurities consist of soot or dust derived from new snow-free areas. Dumont et al. mention microorganisms as potential light-absorbing impurities, but do not incorporate biological activity into their numerical snow model. We argue that microorganisms, such as the pigmented algae that reside in snow and ice, can cause a substantial reduction in albedo and that this effect needs to be included in numerical albedo models of the Greenland Ice Sheet.The eukaryotic algae that reside in and on snow can change the snow’s colour from white to green to red over a period of weeks as the algae bloom2. Furthermore, complete melting of the snow exposes large areas of underlying grey ice that host brown–black pigmented ice-algae2–5, in addition tothe soot and mineral dust impurities discussed by Dumont and