DEEP PURPLE - Scientific Expedition to Greenland
I am honoured to announce my participation in the climate research project DEEP PURPLE. I will join a team of scientists on a challenging and exciting field trip expedition to the Greenland Ice Sheet.
The stability of the Greenland Ice Sheet is of great importance to coastal communities worldwide. Due to the dramatic effects of climate change, the ice sheet now darkens significantly during the melt season, becoming increasingly deep purple due to a growing population of pigmented ice algae blooms. This darkening changes the albedo of the surface, accelerating the melting process toward its dangerous tipping point.
DEEP PURPLE is a scientific research project led by Prof. Liane G. Benning (Interface Geochemistry, GFZ Potsdam), Prof. Alexandre Anesio (Polar Microbiology, Aarhus University), and Prof. Martyn Tranter (Polar Biogeochemistry, Aarhus University). Using multidisciplinary approaches covering chemistry, biology, and physics, DEEP PURPLE aims to provide a step-change in our understanding of the factors that control glacier algae blooms. A process-based understanding of these blooms is essential for modelling future Greenland Ice Sheet melt. DEEP PURPLE's goal is to provide critical field data sets and conceptual models of ice algae growth that will facilitate the next generation of predictive models of sea level rise due to biologically enhanced melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet.