On Thin Ice: Supercharged Phytoplankton (Part 1)

All aboard the Nathaniel B. Palmer, a research vessel making its
way through the waters of West Antarctica. Journalist Sofia
Moutinho is joining a team of chemists trying to find out how
glacial melting is changing ocean chemistry—and what those changes
might mean for the global climate. The researchers want to know
whether a negative feedback loop could take shape in Antarctica’s
seas. Carbon dioxide contributes to the rise in warming that is
melting the glaciers. As glacial melting releases iron,
phytoplankton feast. Phytoplankton in turn remove carbon from the
air, potentially causing a cooling effect. Stay tuned for next
Friday’s episode, where Moutinho will embark on a hunt for sea ice
and hear about the researchers’ special encounter with Adélie
penguins. E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any
questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover
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Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper,
Carin Leong, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was
hosted by journalist Sofia Moutinho. Our show is edited by Elah
Feder, Alexa Lim, Madison Goldberg and Anaissa Ruiz Tejada, with
fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music
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