Publication Date July 12, 2017 | Popular Science

Greenland's ice sheet is full of toxins waiting to break free—and microbes that eat them

Greenland
A Greenland melt pond. Photo: Michael Studinger, NASA GSFC, 2008
A Greenland melt pond. Photo: Michael Studinger, NASA GSFC, 2008

As the Greenland ice sheet melts due to climate change, a new study in journal Environmental Letters suggests, pollution trapped inside could ooze back into the environment. But microbes that have evolved to chow down on such toxins could help us out.