Story By: Gheorghi Caraseni, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
The snow in Antarctica is turning red accelerating the impact of climate change by apparently melting the ice caps as shown in these pictures snapped by Ukrainian scientists.
The spectacular images show a huge swathe of snow around the team’s base in Antarctica painted red as if covered in blood or paint.
They were taken by members of the Ukrainian National Scientific Centre In Antarctica at their Vernadsky Research Base located at Marina point on Galindez Island of Argentine Islands.
The pictures were taken at the former British Faraday Station which was sold to Ukraine for a token 1 GBP in 1996.
The scientists explained that the red colour was produced by algae identified as Chlamydomonas nivalis which is known for causing the phenomenon referred to as watermelon snow or blood snow.
Chlamydomonas nivalis is a species of green algae that contains a secondary red pigment that protects it from ultraviolet radiation, and unlike most freshwater algae, it thrives in cold and in particular freezing water.
The red colour absorbs the sunlight, which melts the snow which in turn provides more water for the algae to grow in.
According to the scientists the unseasonably warm weather in Antarctica has triggered the early arrival of the phenomenon. During the cold winter months, the algae remains dormant but in spring, the increased levels of light, meltwater and nutrients stimulate germination.
The phenomenon was first recorded by Aristotle and ever since then has puzzled climbers, explorers and naturalists alternatively have put it down to mineral deposits and oxidisation before it was finally confirmed to be algae.
In the UK for ships sailing from England looking for the North West passage in 1818 recorded red snow, and it was seen in the Scottish Highlands in the Cairngorm Mountains in 1967.
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