This is one of the main indicators of the climate crisis. The melting ice caps, with their cumulative surface area around the two poles reaching a historic low in February, have many repercussions: They exacerbate warming in a vicious circle, disrupt the lifestyles of species such as polar bears, disturb the movement and hunting of Indigenous communities, erode coasts, and open new maritime routes.

To this long list of disruptions, another lesser-known one must be added: The disappearance of sea ice changes the color of the Arctic and Antarctic oceans. This could have "considerable" consequences for certain marine organisms like algae and phytoplankton, warns a study published in Nature Communications on Friday, May 2.

In frozen polar seas, light barely penetrates. The ice caps reflect a significant portion of solar radiation due to their white color. They also absorb and diffuse a continuum of colors more uniformly than seawater.

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