Spooky 'Blood Snow' Invades Antarctic Island

As summer occurs in Antarctica and the time comes for record-high ambient temperatures, the continent is experiencing massive glacial melting, along with the blood-red snowing that is spattering all over its peninsula.

In the last few weeks, the ice surrounding the Vernadsky Research Base of Ukraine, which is on Galindez Island off the northernmost coast was observed to be coated in, as researchers call it, "raspberry snow." In a Facebook post, Ukraine's Ministry of Education and Science showed the full view of streaks of pink and red snow that slashed across glacier edges and puddled on frosty plains. The same occurrence was observed near a British former research station.

Researchers also whimsically call this phenomenon as "jam." It has also been called "blood snow" and "watermelon snow," among other names. It is a kind of algae with a red pigment, named Chlamydomonas nivalis, and it hides in mountains and snowfields all over the world. This alga can survive freezing conditions and thrives in freezing waters. During the winter, it lies dormant in the ice and snow, and when summer arrives and as the snow melts, it blooms and spreads out its flower-like red spores.

This is a phenomenon that has been observed and recorded as early as in the 3^rd century BC by Aristotle. Its red coloration is due to carotenoids, which are the pigments also found in carrots and pumpkins, and which make them orange-colored. The carotenoids are found within C. nivalis' chloroplasts. These crimson pigments not only lend color to the algae, but also protect the algae from UV light by absorbing the sun's heat. This allows the algae to soak in the nutrients of the summer sun without the risk of unwanted genetic mutations.

This may be good for the algae, but it also has deleterious effects on the Antarctic ice. Ukrainian researchers say that these blooms cause a feedback mechanism of progressively warming the ice and melting it in a continuing cycle. They explain that the "snow blossoms" aggravate climate change because the algae's red color causes the ice to reflect less sunlight, causing it to melt more. Thus, more bright algae are progressively and continuously produced.

As the algae absorb even more heat, the surrounding ice then melts at an even faster rate. And the more the ice melts, the quicker it is for the algae to spread. This is a feedback loop that creates more heat, more ice melting, and more algal blooms.

The same phenomenon occurs in other parts of the world, where extreme algal blooms are sprouting up. Spain saw an invasion by sea foam, while the coasts of China saw bio-luminescent, blue "tears." Even though the blood snow phenomenon has been occurring on Earth for ages, the current situation is different because climate change causes more warm conditions on the ice, which is conducive to more algal growth than ever before. This is just another major effect of climate change with a negative impact on our environment.