Dr. Johan C. Faust 

Workshop Abstract

Emerging or disappearing ice on Earth´ssurface is one of the clearest indications for a changing climate.

Reconstructing past glacier activities is however challenging, partly due to the lack of distinct glacier

proxies. Glacier algae, photoautotrophic extremophilic organisms, live at the bare ice surface of

glaciers and ice sheets in all alpine and polar regions on Earth. They are characterized by dark vacuolar

pigments and are members of a single algae class, Zygnematophyceae (Chlorophyta). The

environmental robustness of these glacier algae, their global appearance, and the circumstances of

their highly specific and restricted habitat on bare ice provokes the question if they could be used as

glacier proxy. There are indications that these algae produce specific molecular components which can

be track in marine sediments over long timescales. The proposed workshop focuses on the potential

of glacier algae to act as a proxy for glacial activity in marine and lacustrine sediments. The goal of the

workshop is to design an international research proposal to collect algae samples from Greenland ice

sheet and to identify their molecular signature. Therefore, during the workshop we will discuss the

eco-biological behavior of the ice algae, their molecular composition and the methodological needs

for the proxy identification and development, as well as the possibility and feasibility of sampling

campaigns and locations