Scientists recently discovered giant viruses infecting algal blooms that dot the Greenland ice sheet
Several areas in Greenland are covered with black algae, which could speed ice melt by absorbing sunlight.Hordes of giant viruses are living on the world's second-largest body of ice — and may be slowing the impacts of climate change.on the Greenland ice sheet. Some of the viruses, they say, have infected algae, potentially limiting the growth of colored snow blooms that can speed up ice melt and raise global sea levels.
Since being classified in the 1980s, scientists have found giant viruses — or nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses — all over the world in soil, rivers and oceans. Perini and her team wanted to find out if they also inhabited icy Greenland. “We have some examples that are reasonably well studied” of marine algal blooms, Schulz said in an interview. “Giant viruses play a role there in terminating the algae.”
Schultz said that may not be a good idea — algae have other functions, like storing carbon — but the study indicates it's worth exploring and puts the idea"on my radar." But there are a lot of other factors that may also affect how Greenland's ice sheet responds to warming temperatures, Tedesco added.
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