Pink SnowCover Photo: Kory J. Collier | Photo Credit: Will Beback

While Coloradans and Californians curse the onset of brown snow caused by desert winds blowing sand up from the southwest, it’s the pink snow we should all be worried about.

In a recent article by GizmodoMaddie Stone explains that while pink snow is nothing new, its recent and rapid growth is a tell-tale sign of climate change and our vanishing glaciers across the world.

But what exactly is pink snow?

Known as red snow algae, these microscopic algae blooms show up on glaciers during the spring and summer months. As the earth warms each year– so do the algae blooms get larger, which in turn causes the snowy parts of the world begins to lose their effective albedo.

Albedo (noun.) – Albedo is the fraction of solar energy (shortwave radiation) reflected from the Earth back into space. It is a measure of the reflectivity of the earth’s surface. Ice, especially with snow on top of it, has a high albedo.

Red Algae Cell
Red Algae Cell | Photo Credit: USDA

So instead of reflecting the sunlight, the algae blooms actually reduce the snow’s albedo and in turn allow the earth to absorb more heat. Ultimately that growing algae and its subsequent lack of albedo is contributing to earth’s rapidly melting ice caps and drastically changing climate.

Find the entire Gizmodo article here: This Pink Snow Does Not Bode Well For Our Future

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