Snow, out of season? Not if she's pink and smells like watermelon. A phenomenon that occurs at high altitudes, between 3000 and 3600 meters. Let's not blame the pollution right away. It is once again a gift from Nature
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
Nevand, out of season? No, if it is pink e smells of watermelon. A phenomenon that occurs at high altitudes, between 3000 and 3600 meters. Let's not blame the pollution right away. It is once again a gift from Nature.
To give this special color, which goes from pink to red, are some single-celled organisms present only in the high mountains and in the polar regions. Here, in fact, there is the mass development of such organisms Chlamydomonas which are part of the class of green algae. It is no coincidence that it is called "watermelon snow"The red snow.
A very common phenomenon in the summer months in Sierra Nevada and California where temperatures remain low enough to guarantee the presence of until summer.
Those who have admired it live have found themselves in front of a spectacle: the pressure of the boots on the ground leaves an evident imprint, characterized precisely by the pulp color of watermelon. A color that stains even shoes and trousers.
The coloring is due to carotenoids. The green-pigmented seaweed spores grow inside the snow but when it melts they appear on the surface.
Why do they turn red? Theirs is a protection mechanism from the sun's ultraviolet rays, which are very present at high altitudes. The red color also absorbs heat and provides the algae with liquid water when the snow melts. This creates holes called “sun cups”, literally cups of the sun, which are shallow depressions in the snow.
Compared to most algae species, they thrive in the cold. During the winter months, when the snow covers them, they go into a kind of hibernation. Then, during the spring and summer, the increased amount of light, water and nutrients trigger the germination process.
Then there is an increase of algae on the surface, where they appear as pink spots. The algal blooms can extend to a depth of 25 cm, but each is 20 to 30 micrometers in diameter, about four times that of a human red blood cell.
A phenomenon, that of the red snow, which for centuries has fascinated explorers and naturalists. Even the Greek philosopher Aristotle left the first written records of the watermelon snow. But it was Captain John Ross, with a full account of his expedition in 1818, who speculated that the red snow had something to do with the presence of an alga.
Francesca Mancuso
Photo: Wiki
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