Compared to the extent of the impact it will have on us, the term ‘climate change’ is misused. Climate change is more than just a slight increase or decrease in global temperature or the melting of glaciers. There are numerous effects of climate change.
According to recent research, the melting of glaciers and ice in the northern hemisphere could result in the release of thousands of tonnes of unidentified microorganisms.
According to microbiologist and study author Arwyn Edwards of Aberystwyth University in the UK, ‘we think of glaciers as a large storage of frozen water, but the crucial lesson from our research is that they are also ecosystems in their own right.’
The bacteria trapped in the ice could potentially reach warmer waters where they could perhaps multiply as ice sheets melt with rising temperatures. Numerous of these bacteria may be previously undiscovered and could have a serious influence on us.
Ian Stevens, a glacier hydrologist at Aarhus University in Denmark, oversaw the investigation. In the Northern Hemisphere, eleven glaciers’ surface meltwater was collected and examined. The Canadian Arctic, the European Alps, Greenland and Svalbard all have these glaciers nearby.
Each millilitre of water had tens of thousands of bacteria on average, according to the researchers. According to the experts, almost 100,000 tonnes of bacteria might be unleashed over the following 80 years.
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