Large-scale melting of the Greenland ice sheet is irreversible and happening at a rapid rate, and now a new international study is the first to understand why. 

A University of Waterloo scientist and a team of international collaborators found that airborne mineral dust and other aerosols are directly connected to how much algae grows on the ice. The algae interfere with albedo, or the reflection of the sun’s rays, exacerbating melting.   

After maritime shipping emissions were sharply reduced following a mandated switch in fuels, University of Utah atmospheric scientists sprang into action to see how the change would affect cloud formation over North Atlantic. Review of satellite observations and weather data determined few droplets formed, yet the clouds’ ability to reflect sunlight remained surprisingly stable.

Plant ecologist and lecturer Dr Teemu Tahvanainen at the University of Eastern Finland compiled available data and earlier results from drained and restored peatlands to inform a modelling study on climate mitigation potential of restoration. The results indicate that peatland restoration can contribute to between 2 and 6 CO₂-equivalent tons per hectare of annual climate mitigation, in a one-hundred-year assessment perspective. The implication is that restoration of weakly productive forestry-drained peatlands could make a pivotal contribution to the land-use sector emission scenarios in Finland.