Alpine glacier algal bloom during a record melt year.

Glacier algal blooms dominate the surfaces of glaciers and ice sheets during summer melt seasons, with larger blooms anticipated in years that experience the greatest melt. Here, we characterize the glacier algal bloom proliferating on Morteratsch glacier, Switzerland, during the record 2022 melt season, when the Swiss Alps lost three times more ice than the decadal average. Glacier algal cellular abundance (cells ml), biovolume (μm cell), photophysiology (F/F, rETR), and stoichiometry (C:N ratios) were constrained across three elevations on Morteratsch glacier during late August 2022 and compared with measurements of aqueous geochemistry and outputs of nutrient spiking experiments.

Lead and other heavy metals in soils impacted by exterior legacy paint in residential areas of south west England.

Legacy paint on publicly-accessible structures in residential areas of Plymouth, UK (a bridge parapet, hospital railings, a goal frame, urban street paving and a telephone kiosk) and local paint-contaminated soils have been analysed for lead and other heavy metals (chromium, zinc and barium) by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. Lead was detected in all paints analysed (n=56) apart from two fragments of yellow road markings, with maximum concentrations exceeding 300gkg. Soils were contaminated by Pb to varying degrees that depended on the condition and Pb content of the paint applications and the nature and vegetation of the soil, with a maximum concentration of 27gkg and a maximum enrichment factor normalised to grain size and regional baseline soil of 270.