People in Utah have seen snow on the ground tinged red and pink.
It’s certainly beautiful to behold, but what’s behind the natural phenomenon dubbed “watermelon snow”? Experts say it is a normal occurrence that appears in mountainous locations across the world.
Though you might not suspect it from the colors of the snow, it’s the result of green algae blooms that thrive in cold, snowy environments, according to Scott Hotaling, an assistant professor in the department of watershed sciences at Utah State University.
The species of algae that causes Utah’s colorful snow is called Chlamydomonas nivalis.
Hotaling said that although snow in Utah has appeared red – the most common color of the phenomenon – there are types of algae that live in the ice and snow that can turn the usually white frozen precipitation into all kinds of colors, including purple, green and orange.
“[As algas estão] normally in this kind of dormant cyst form, and when there’s enough melt water in the snowpack and enough nutrients, like during spring, this cyst form comes out of the dormant state,” Hotaling told CNN .
“It has this little flagellum that can swim through the snow to the surface, [onde] experiences a lot of solar radiation and flourishes”.
This bloom is a sign of the algae’s reproductive stage, during which a secondary pigment is created that darkens the cells, explained Hotaling. This pigment acts as a blocker of ultraviolet rays that protect the algae cells from solar radiation.
“I have very fair skin, I have a lot more problems with the sun than people who have much more pigmented skin – same idea for algae,” said Hotaling.
As the algae cells heat up in the sun, they melt the water around them that was once snow, he explained, which releases water into the frozen environment.
Hotaling further explained that there are no human health concerns regarding water quality and for those who come into contact with the more pigmented snow.
Source: CNN Brasil
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