RU2: Methane, nutrients and carbon

Melting ice sheets discharge large volumes of water and sediments into glacial margins and oceans. The released organic and inorganic matter includes nutrients, heavy metals, and greenhouse gases that will impact surrounding environments and the global climate. However, our current scientific understanding on such impacts remains very limited.

To close this knowledge gap, we are monitoring greenhouse gases, nutrients, and organic carbon released in glacial runoff and recently deglaciated areas in Greenland and Svalbard over a period of ten years. We are studying how the different compounds interact and investigating how they are cycled by microbes. We are modelling how these processes play out on a global level. Our goal is to produce the first reliable model of how nutrients and carbon in ice sheet forefields will affect the global climate.