What exactly is the pink watermelon snow on an Italian glacier?

According to the news, Italy's Presena Glacier is covered with pink "watermelon snow", what is the meaning behind this same scene? How did this "watermelon snow" come about?

Scientists have expressed concern that this is bad news for the historic ice field, which turns out to be caused by algae. These pink invaders are threatening Italy's huge Presena glacier.

Once reported as the battlefield of World War I between the Kingdom of Italy and Austria-Hungary, the Alpine Glacier is now an outdoor and skiing destination, but it appears to have been hit by "watermelon snow", a pink hue that comes from algae growing on the ice. Although this tiny algae does not directly damage the glacier, it darkens the otherwise white surface, allowing it to absorb more light from the sun. The absorbed light heats the glacier and accelerates its melting.

At an altitude of 3,069 meters, the glacier has remained intact for thousands of years throughout the summer, is this era coming to an end?

Biaggio Od Mauro, a researcher at the Institute of Polar Sciences of Italy's National Research Council, explains that these tiny plant species, Chlamydomonas Nivali, are likely responsible for this sudden pink color. This algae is common in the Alps, but the low snowfall in winter, combined with high temperatures in spring and summer, creates ideal conditions for this large bloom. Although the Présena Glacier Conservationists use a lot of textiles during the summer months to reflect the light from the glacier back into space.

But this does not cover all the ice.

Glaciers around the world are shrinking at an alarming rate due to climate change. According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), many major glaciers have existed in the United States for thousands of years, some of which may disappear within a few decades. Glaciers are often an integral part of local ecosystems, providing cold water for fish downstream, supporting agriculture, and providing an important source of drinking water for humans.

Without glaciers, water would be more scarce, even as droughts and wildfires become more common due to climate change.

As previously reported, one of the most important retreating glaciers in the world is the Dengman Glacier in Antarctica. From 1996 to 2018, the 20-kilometer-wide ice flow in the eastern part of the continent retreated by 5 kilometers. A canyon beneath the glacier may be accelerating Denman's retreat, potentially creating a feedback loop that completely melts the huge ice mass.

If all of the Denman ice were to flow back into the ocean, global sea levels would rise by an average of metres. And these glaciers will be another warning to humanity!

A: Not long ago, someone noticed the sudden pink snow in the Italian Alps, as the name suggests, this blood color is pink, very beautiful, people also named him "watermelon snow". But it's not snow, it's an algae, it's not poisonous and it often appears in spring and summer, but it's also harmful, because it can speed up the melting of snow!

This is supposed to be a type of algae called polar snow algae. It causes the snow to darken in color, which makes the glacier less able to reflect sunlight and melts faster.

This pink snow is actually algae, because the lack of snowfall and continuous high temperatures in 2020 promoted the growth of algae, and the more algae, the faster the ice and snow will melt, which is not a good phenomenon.

The occurrence of pink "watermelon snow" on Italian glaciers is most likely related to the algae found in Greenland, which are not dangerous and are a normal natural phenomenon that occurs during spring and summer.

Those small red pits are actually caused by this kind of snow algae floating into the snow, constantly absorbing heat, causing the surrounding snow and ice to melt. Because of the existence of watermelon algae, some birds and insects that eat algae have gradually appeared in the ice and snow world. Algae microorganisms can survive in a variety of extreme environments, which is admirable, and this is dotted with a touch of red in the vast expanse of snow, adding precious life and vitality to the cold ice fields.

Its vitality does not only come from color, because watermelon snow feeds small insects that eat algae, such as worms, jumping insects, etc., and small insects that feed on small insects, as well as birds that feed on insects, appear, and a unique ecosystem appears in the ice and snow world, and Chlamydomonas is the original late producer of this system. In addition, it is said that this algae also has the effect of preventing ultraviolet rays and delaying aging, and more and more people are beginning to pay attention to and study it.

3. Watermelon snow is best not to eat.

Once the snow has fallen to the ground, the upper layer of snow is clean unless other impurities have landed on the surface. Everyone knows that you can't eat snow that is not white and yellow, and you can't eat snow that has turned black, because snow in its stationary state adheres to the dust in the air under the action of dry deposition. But I would like to remind you that you should not eat the pink watermelon snow, although the pink appearance of the watermelon snow is beautiful, but it contains snow algae that is not good for digestion.

To sum up, if you want to eat snow, please peel off the top layer, avoid the bottom part, and only eat the middle one, according to this method, you can enjoy an endless ice and snow buffet as far as the eye can see. You can also collect snow to make tea and coffee, which may be cleaner than sedimentary water and regular tap water. Prev 1 2 Next.