Glaciers are pristine watersheds.  The runoff from glaciers can also support unique and productive watersheds.  As part of a collaborative effort the Raymond laboratory is looking into how the input of organic matter to glaciers and snowpack.  Recent work by our group has identified a significant fossil fuel component to snow and ice carbon.  We are working on determining how ubiquitous this is and what it means to downstream ecosystems.  FIGURE C.
 
Collaborators websites:
http://www.skio.usg.edu/people/stubbins/
http://www.uas.alaska.edu/dir/ewhood.html
http://www.whrc.org/about/cvs/rspencer.html
 
Raymond, P. A. (2005), The composition and transport of organic carbon in rainfall: Insights from the natural (C-13 and C-14) isotopes of carbon, Geophysical Research Letters, 32(14).

Stubbins, A., et al. (2012), Anthropogenic aerosols as a source of ancient dissolved organic matter in glaciers, Nature Geoscience.