Scientists Say Pink Snow is Coming – And it Will be a Problem themindguild.com/scientists-say-pink-snow-coming September 19, 2017
Did you hear that scientists say pink snow is coming – and it will not be pretty. In 2016, some researchers from Europe were shocked to find glaciers which were covered with pink snow. Amazingly, this was caused by red algae with the redness increasing as the algae melts quicker than the white ice. Interestingly, this phenomenon was also observed half way across the globe in the state of Alaska. This pink snow is not a good thing and will be a serious problem for glaciers across the world. Scientists believe it is going to get much worse before it gets better.
Finding Red Snow in Different Regions This issue is a matter of simple science. Red-snow algae have been found all across the globe in alpine and polar settings. They get their unique color from a pigments class referred to as tetraterpenoids which are much darker than their white surrounding. When you group them together in packs, they tend to cause snowy areas to absorb much more energy from the sun and it melts faster. This is great for the algae as they thrive from the available nutrients in the melting water. Researchers from Alaska Pacific University attempted to fill the experimental gap by creating an abundance of pink snow. They put water in experimental plots in Alaskan icefields and observed the growth rate of the algae to control plots that had received no water. In addition, they tossed bleach on a few plots as well.
Learning About the Red-Snow Algae They discovered that the red snow algae were both nutrient and water limited. The algae grew in abundance and increased fourfold when they received both vital ingredients. This melt meant that the more red algae there were the more snow would be melted. And plots that had been enriched were likely to produce three times as likely to melt away the snow as bleached plots. 1/2