I ghiacciai nutrono sempre meno gli oceani./ Glaciers are feeding the oceans less and less. [ITA/ENG]

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The retreat of glaciers is also reducing the amount of nutrients that sustain life in the oceans.

The research team analyzed data from over one and a half million people monitored for more than a decade and coming from various countries.

Glaciers are always in motion, pulled by gravity. As they move across the rocks, they “grind” huge quantities of sediments essential for marine ecosystems, which contain metals crucial for the growth of phytoplankton.

A study by the University of Southern California investigated whether there are differences, in terms of nutrient supply to the ocean, between a rapidly retreating glacier and one that is instead stable.

For the study, researchers selected two adjacent glaciers in Alaska: Aialik, which is stable and ends directly at the sea, and Northwestern, which has been retreating since the 1950s and has “pulled back” 15 km from the coast.

Both glaciers lie on the same rocks, meaning they have access to the same nutrients.

But Aialik provides meltwater that is richer in metals and other nutrients compared to Northwestern.

Read the full article below:

• Glaciers are feeding the oceans less and less.

References:

• Focus