Maine researchers to study diatoms in Greenland lakes

Researchers from the University of Maine will be studying diatoms in 30 Greenland lakes this summer to understand how the single-celled organisms react to seasonal changes, according to the Polar Field Services Newsletter.

The researchers will take their first samples just as the ice melts off the lakes. They will collect a second round of samples during the middle of the summer, when the weather warms up.

A monitoring buoy, lent to the researchers from the University of Miami Ohio, will furnish sensors to measure temperature, light, chlorophyll and other water quality parameters.

Inflatable boats will be used to access some of Greenland’s remote lakes. The researchers plan to measure conductivity, nutrient concentrations and the lakes’ light dissipation characteristics while out sampling.

Image: Greenland lake (Credit: University of Maine Climate Change Institute)