Snow on the Presena Glacier in northern Italy has turned pink due to the presence of a certain algae.
CNN reported on July 6, 2020 that Biagio Di Mauro, a researcher at the Italian National Research Council, found during a field visit on July 4 that the snow algal blooms on the Presena Glacier were eye-catching. He said that pink “watermelon snow” is more common in Alpine glaciers in spring and summer, but in 2020 the situation will be more significant.
He believes that this phenomenon should be caused by the occurrence of polar snow algae in the local area. The algae itself is harmless, but its presence can darken snowpack and reduce the glacier’s ability to reflect sunlight, which in turn speeds up melting. The faster the glaciers melt, the more algae appear because melting glaciers gives algae more water and air to grow.
In the spring and summer of 2020, the area where the Presena Glacier is located has less snowfall and higher temperatures. “This created an excellent environment for the algae to grow,” said
Di Mauro, who had also discovered that the appearance of an algae turned the glacier purple during his previous fieldwork on the Morterach Glacier in Switzerland.