How do frozen environments influence chemical reactions? This is what a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated how rusty orange rivers observed in Arctic regions could be from ice dissolving iron minerals much faster than liquid water. This study has the potential to help researchers, climate scientists, legislators, and the public better understand how frozen environments influence chemical reactions, and how climate change is contributing to it.
For the study, the researchers conducted a series of field and laboratory experiments to analyze how iron oxide can dissolve within frozen environments. The goal of the study was to ascertain the processes that enable ice to dissolve iron oxides, resulting in the orange rivers observed in the Arctic regions. In the end, the researchers found that freeze-thaw cycles resulting from climate change accelerate iron dissolved, which is even further accelerated by the amount of salinity within the ice.
“As the climate warms, freeze-thaw cycles become more frequent,” said Angelo Pio Sebaaly, who is a PhD student at Umeå University and lead author of the study. “Each cycle releases iron from soils and permafrost into the water. This can affect water quality and aquatic ecosystems across vast areas.”
This study comes as regions like Alaska have observed “iron rivers” resulting from permafrost exposing iron-rich rocks. Current hypotheses for the causes include permafrost thaw, oxidation, and acidification. This results in impacting water quality and habitat degradation and poses significant risks to local communities, plants, and wildlife. Therefore, studies like this can help raise awareness regarding how climate change is impacting ice melt and iron dissolving and what steps can be taken to mitigate it.
What new insights into frozen environments and chemical reactions will researchers make in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, EurekAlert!
Featured Image: Stordalen, Abisko. (Credit: Jean-François Boily)
