Can ancient pathogens emerging from glaciers and permafrost reach Europe by aerosolization?
(2023) In Student thesis series INES NGEK01 20231Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
- Abstract
- Glaciers and permafrost capture bacteria and viruses when they form, which can be suspended for millennia. This includes long since extinct pathogens which are functionally novel. As polar regions get warmer these pathogens will emerge and spread through the local ecosystem, potentially altering it. Ancient pathogens do not only pose a risk to their local environments as they can be aerosolized and transported long distances by wind. In this study I aimed to answer the question whether such pathogen transport is possible from Greenland to Europe. Through reviewing and synthesising existing literature from multiple disciplines I found that aerosolized pathogen transport from Greenland to Europe is indeed possible. How likely this is to... (More)
- Glaciers and permafrost capture bacteria and viruses when they form, which can be suspended for millennia. This includes long since extinct pathogens which are functionally novel. As polar regions get warmer these pathogens will emerge and spread through the local ecosystem, potentially altering it. Ancient pathogens do not only pose a risk to their local environments as they can be aerosolized and transported long distances by wind. In this study I aimed to answer the question whether such pathogen transport is possible from Greenland to Europe. Through reviewing and synthesising existing literature from multiple disciplines I found that aerosolized pathogen transport from Greenland to Europe is indeed possible. How likely this is to occur under future climate conditions is unknown, as there is no consensus on how atmospheric circulation over the Atlantic will change. As the possibility under current atmospheric conditions is established by this study, future interdisciplinary research to further explore this phenomenon is warranted. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9126323
- author
- Bruhn, Anna LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- NGEK01 20231
- year
- 2023
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Ancient pathogens, Greenland, Aerosolized pathogens, Aerosol transport
- publication/series
- Student thesis series INES
- report number
- 590
- language
- English
- id
- 9126323
- date added to LUP
- 2023-06-21 13:18:34
- date last changed
- 2023-06-21 13:18:34
@misc{9126323, abstract = {{Glaciers and permafrost capture bacteria and viruses when they form, which can be suspended for millennia. This includes long since extinct pathogens which are functionally novel. As polar regions get warmer these pathogens will emerge and spread through the local ecosystem, potentially altering it. Ancient pathogens do not only pose a risk to their local environments as they can be aerosolized and transported long distances by wind. In this study I aimed to answer the question whether such pathogen transport is possible from Greenland to Europe. Through reviewing and synthesising existing literature from multiple disciplines I found that aerosolized pathogen transport from Greenland to Europe is indeed possible. How likely this is to occur under future climate conditions is unknown, as there is no consensus on how atmospheric circulation over the Atlantic will change. As the possibility under current atmospheric conditions is established by this study, future interdisciplinary research to further explore this phenomenon is warranted.}}, author = {{Bruhn, Anna}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, series = {{Student thesis series INES}}, title = {{Can ancient pathogens emerging from glaciers and permafrost reach Europe by aerosolization?}}, year = {{2023}}, }