science

Glacier Retreat in Antarctica Has Unexpected Benefit

Global Warming has caused many problems for many years. One of the most serious problems are the melting of glaciers in Antarctica. But recent research shows something new and helpful, caused by this problem. This research has been done by the British Antarctic Survey or known as BAS. The BAS finding are this, as glaciers melt, tiny marine plants called phytoplankton are colonizing places where the glacier melted. As a result the population increased. These animals are beneficial to the environment because they absorb the heat caused by Global Warming. They found that over the past 50 years, melting ice has opened up at least 24,000 km of new open water. This has been colonized by carbon-absorbing phytoplankton. According to the authors this new bloom is the second largest factor acting against climate change so far discovered on Earth. Because of more space and more heat the phytoplankton population has been growing. This article is important because if the population of the phytoplankton keep increasing the climate change will reduce. The most interesting thing I found in this article is that the smallest of creatures like phytoplankton could help the environment.