Melting Glaciers Could Release Tonnes Of Bacteria Into Rivers: Study

Rapidly melting glaciers could release vast amount of bacteria into rivers and streams, scientists have warned. The rising global temperature because of climate change has increased the speed at which the swathes of ice are melting, releasing bacteria.

And it could transform icy ecosystem, according to a report in the BBC. These bacteria could include potentially harmful pathogens, the outlet further said. The report is based on the study if glacial runoff from 10 sites across the northern hemisphere. The study has been published in Communications Earth & Environment.

The researchers studied water coming down from eight glaciers across Europe and North America and two in Greenland.

The study team included researchers from Aberystwyth University who estimated that the situation could result in more than 100,000 tonnes of microbes into the environment over the next 80 years.

“We think of glaciers as a huge store of frozen water but the key lesson from this research is that they are also ecosystems in their own right,” microbiologist and study author Arwyn Edwards of Aberystwyth University in the UK told the BBC.

He also said that there is a need to check the rise in global temperature.

“The number of microbes released depends closely on how quickly the glaciers melt, and therefore how much we continue to warm the planet,” Dr Edwards said.

The study is based on a “moderate” warming scenario – where the global temperatures is expected to rise between 2 degrees Celsius and 3 degrees Celsius on average by 2100.

Glaciers have an entire ecosystem trapped inside. And scientists fear that rapid melting of these huge pieces of ice will release bacteria faster than scientists can possibly catalog them. The researchers said some of these may be harmful to humans.

“The risk is probably very small, but it requires careful assessment,” said Dr Edwards.

The researchers haven’t included the glaciers in the Hindu Kush region of Asia.