Warming turns Antarctica’s snow green

Antarctica conjures images of an unbroken white wilderness but blooms of algae are giving parts of the frozen continent an increasingly green tinge. Warming temperatures due to climate change are helping the formation and spread of “green snow” and it is becoming so prolific in places that it is even visible from space, according to new research.

“We now have a baseline of where the algal blooms are and we can see whether the blooms will start increasing as the models suggest in the future,” Matt Davey of the University of Cambridge’s Department of Plant Sciences said.

Mosses and lichens are considered the dominant photosynthetic organisms in Antarctica — but the new mapping found 1,679 separate algal blooms that are a key component in the continent’s ability to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. “The algal blooms in Antarctica are equivalent to about the amount of carbon that's being omitted by 875,000 average UK petrol car journeys,” Davey said.

 Green is not the only splash of colour in Antarctica. Researchers are now planning similar studies on red and orange algae, although that is proving harder to map from space. Reuters

Continent's 'watermelon snow'

Snow took on a sinister-looking blood red colour at a Ukrainian research station due to a type of algae which contributes to climate change, in February earlier this year.

The algae’s cells have a red carotene layer which protects it from ultraviolet radiation and produces red spots in the snow like “raspberry jam”. The natural phenomenon, is also known as "watermelon snow".

Because of the red-crimson colour,snow reflects less sunlight and melts faster. As a consequence, it produces more and more bright algae. When colder temperatures return in the winter, the algae, which is officially known as chlamydomonas nivalis, becomes dormant and the red tint disappears.

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