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Melting Arctic may make algae flourish

More sunlight penetrates thinning sea ice, enabling algal growth

By Erin Wayman

- More than 2 years ago

By letting sunlight through, thinning Arctic sea ice may be promoting the growth of algae, researchers suggest online February 14 in Science.

Researchers aboard the research vessel Polarstern (shown) in summer 2012 found large clumps of fresh algae whose growth was probably enabled by thinning Arctic sea ice.