A remarkable study by KAUST researchers and an international team of scientists, published in the prestigious journal Nature, has shed light on the diversity of microbial life in glacier meltwater. The streams draining the glaciers on our planet’s mountaintops harbor a wealth of unique microorganisms, yet little was known about these complex ecosystems until recently.

A team of scientists, led by the Swiss Federal Technology Institute of Lausanne (EPFL) and including members of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), has carried out an unprecedented study, taking an in-depth look at the microbiome of these glacier-fed streams. The scientists, with the help of mountain guides and porters, spent more than five years collecting and analyzing samples from 170 glacier-fed streams in New Zealand, the Himalayas, the Russian Caucasus, the Tien Shan and Pamir Mountains, the European Alps, Scandinavia, Greenland, Alaska, the Rwenzori Mountains in Uganda, and both the Ecuadorian and Chilean Andes. Their findings provide the first global reference of the microbiome in these streams.

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