title: The biogeography of red snow microbiomes and their role in melting arctic glaciers.
abstract: The Arctic is melting at an unprecedented rate and key drivers are changes in snow and ice albedo. Here we show that red snow, a common algal habitat blooming after the onset of melting, plays a crucial role in decreasing albedo. Our data reveal that red pigmented snow algae are cosmopolitan as well as independent of location-specific geochemical and mineralogical factors. The patterns for snow algal diversity, pigmentation and, consequently albedo, are ubiquitous across the Arctic and the reduction in albedo accelerates snow melt and increases the time and area of exposed bare ice. We estimated that the overall decrease in snow albedo by red pigmented snow algal blooms over the course of one melt season can be 13%. This will invariably result in higher melt rates. We argue that such a 'bio-albedo' effect has to be considered in climate models.
authors.affiliation: Cohen Laboratories, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.|GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam 14473, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lutz
authors.affiliation: Bristol Glaciology Centre, School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1SS, UK.
authors.forename: Alexandre M
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-2990-4014
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Anesio
authors.affiliation: Cohen Laboratories, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
authors.forename: Rob
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Raiswell
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth SY23 3FL, UK.|Interdisciplinary Centre for Environmental Microbiology, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth SY23 3FL, UK.
authors.forename: Arwyn
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.affiliation: Cohen Laboratories, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
authors.forename: Rob J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Newton
authors.affiliation: Cohen Laboratories, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
authors.forename: Fiona
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gill
authors.affiliation: Cohen Laboratories, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.|GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam 14473, Germany.
authors.forename: Liane G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Benning
mesh_terms: D001110:Arctic Regions; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification; D044822:Biodiversity; D018533:Biomass; D000460:Chlorophyta / Q000145:classification; D057231:Climate Change; D005227:Fatty Acids; D005615:Freezing; D005843:Geography; D006116:Greenland; D046448:Ice Cover / Q000382:microbiology*; D007055:Iceland; D064307:Microbiota; D010858:Pigmentation; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D012621:Seasons; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012914:Snow / Q000382:microbiology*; D013045:Species Specificity; D013548:Sweden
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S