According to findings published in May in the journal Microbiome, researchers at Denmark\u2019s Aarhus University discovered the giant viruses in Greenland. They suspect they may slow the growth of black snow algae – which contributes to ice-melt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What exactly are giant viruses?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Normal viruses are around 1,000 times smaller than bacteria, but giant viruses – first discovered in the ocean in 1981 – are bigger in both size and genome. They can grow to 2.5 micrometres, where most bacteria are around two micrometres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Giant viruses have around 2.5 million letters in their genome (the complete set of genetic material in an organism, stored in its DNA) making them vastly more complex than regular viruses. For instance, bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria) only have from 100,000 to 200,000. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They\u2019ve been found in the oceans<\/strong><\/a>, soil and even humans, but this is the first time giant viruses have been discovered in the snow and ice dominated by pigmented microalgae.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Arctic teems with life, from walruses and polar bears to birds, fish, plankton – and algae. Each spring, warmed by the sun, this algae starts to bloom, blackening the ice on which it grows. This reduces the ice\u2019s ability to reflect the sun and accelerates ice-melt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Arctic ice is diminishing fast<\/strong><\/a> and the polar region could be completely free from ice by 2040, with its loss affecting global temperatures, creating weather extremes, endangering coastal communities, risking food stability, contributing to wildlife decline and risking methane release from the permafrost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"View](\"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image.jpeg\")
What\u2019s the problem with algae on the Arctic ice?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Maximum-likelihood](\"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-1.jpeg\")
Why is the discovery of giant viruses in the Arctic important?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n