Scientists have already observed red snow in Antarctica…
But now, scientists have discovered patches of GREEN SNOW in satellite imagery… And that’s pretty baffling too.
Red snow is abundant in Antarctica – whether in front of the Ukrainian base or at the Blood Falls on the Taylor Glacier.
But now scientists have shown that more and more snow turns bright GREEN on the icy continent.
Green snow? What the heck?
Scientists have created the first ever large-scale map of microscopic algae as they bloomed across the surface of snow along the Antarctic Peninsula coast.
As it turns out, the green snow patches – that can even be seen from space – appear when microscopic algae grow en masse, turning the snow bright green!
This study is the first estimate of green snow algae community biomass and distribution along the Antarctic Peninsula.
Sentinel 2 imagery revealed 1679 snow algae blooms, seasonally covering 1.95 × 106 m2 and equating to 1.3 × 103 tonnes total dry biomass.
Algal blooms are the result of a nutrient, like nitrogen or phosphorus from fertilizer runoff, entering the aquatic system and causing excessive growth of algae as testified by the paper itself:
[…] distribution strongly influenced by marine nutrient inputs, with 60% of blooms less than 5 km from a penguin colony […]
Results indicate that this ‘green snow’ is likely to spread as global temperatures increase.
I do actually believe, the Green Algae will give the Penguins Super Powers. The Mighty Penguin will then take over the Earth and lead the way to mankind’s inevitable extinction. What is your guess? More algal bloom news on Strange Sounds or Steve Quayle. [Nature, BAS]
Am I the Cat? Victim of blood vessel harvest. A ring barked tree. People are being destroyed by blood vessel theft in Tasmania. RHH.