MOST OF US HAVE SEEN BLUE ICE but what about pink ice? The headline of the article that attracted spurred me on to write this article is “Algae turns Italian Alps pink, prompting concerns over melting.” It appears on The Guardian website and was contributed by Agence France-Press (July 5, 2020). It’s followed by this sub-headline: “Pink snow observed on parts of the Presena glacier believed to be caused by plant that makes the ice darker, causing it to melt faster.”
The article states that scientists are investigating the mysterious appearance of pink glacial ice in the Alps, caused by algae that accelerate the effects of climate change. The alga is not dangerous [and] is a natural phenomenon that occurs during the spring and summer periods in the middle latitudes but also at the Poles.
Normally ice reflects more than 80% of the sun’s radiation back into the atmosphere, but as algae appear, they darken the ice so that it absorbs the heat and melts more quickly.
Everything that darkens the snow causes it to melt because it accelerates the absorption of radiation, [including] the presence of hikers and ski lifts could also have an impact on the algae.
To read this article in its entirety, click HERE.
