The presence of pinkish snow in the Rocky Mountains is piquing the curiosities of hikers, campers and photo-seekers this summer and raising a host of questions about nature, health and climate.
The middle of the country is extraordinarily dry. Crops are stressed, rivers are running low, and cities and towns are anxiously hoping for a break in the weather.Forecasters say the only break much of America can hope for anytime soon from eye-watering dangerous smoke from fire-struck Canada is brief bouts of shirt-soaking sweltering heat and humidity from a southern heat wave that has already proven deadly.
The technicolor snow appears in high-altitude environments throughout the globe including the French Alps and Japan’s Mountains of Dewa when a perfect storm of conditions — water content, sunlight, temperatures and the presence of nutrients — awaken dormant green algae called chlamydomonas nivalis that thrive in cold temperatures. The algae swim to the surface of the snow, where they bloom and divide.
“They need some kind of pigmentation to prevent damage related to the high-UV of the environment they’re in. So they produce the secondary pigment largely for that purpose to protect themselves,” he said.The answer: Technically yes because it is not harmful to ingest, Hotaling said. However, it is not recommended since it is often found in melting snow banks also dotted with dirt and dust that contain toxins.
Though snow becoming water makes it available to nourish the algae, the exposure of bare ground changes how much light is reflected versus absorbed. Darker colors absorb more sunlight, turning snow banks and glaciers into liquid more quickly.
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