The Rocky Mountains conjure up images of grey rugged peaks capped with white. But within the upper reaches of the harsh mountain landscapes, a rosier hue often blooms.
Watermelon snow, also known as glacial blood, is caused by algae that turns the snow a startling shade of red.
The algae blooms in summer, forming on the snowfields that linger on glaciers, frozen lakes, rugged peaks and icy valleys in the upper reaches of mountain terrain.
The darker the snow, the faster it melts — and new research sheds light on the threat snow algae poses to shrinking glaciers across northwestern North America.
Snow algae researcher Lynne Quarmby, lead author of a study recently published in Science Advances, said the findings serve as a warning about our changing climate.
“We don’t really need any more canaries in this mine, but they’re yet another canary in the mine,” said Quarmby, a professor of molecular biology and biochemistry at Simon Fraser University.
“Losing the algae is just an indicator that we’re losing snowpack and glaciers, and these will impact our lives and the lives of lots of other organisms.”
The study mapped the presence of snow algae on mountains in Alberta, British Columbia and Canada’s north along with Alaska, Idaho, Montana and Washington state.
The researchers developed a machine learning program to analyze more than 6,100 satellite images of glaciers captured between 2019 and 2022.
The study found that the red-pigmented algae blooms contribute to glacial melt. However, global warming poses a far greater threat to mountain glaciers and to the surprisingly complex microscopic ecosystems that allow snow algae to colonize them.
“We set out on this study to look at the impact of climate change on these blooms and their impact on climate change,” said Quarmby.
“And I think the impact of climate change on them is clear and dramatic.”
A red survival mechanism
Supported by a vast ecosystem of bacteria and fungi, snow algae flourish when water and nutrients are released from melting snow.
The phenomenon is the result of blooms of Chlamydomonas nivalis, which thrives at near-freezing temperatures. Relying on photosynthesis, the blooms act as carbon sinks, absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
While closely related to the blue-green algae often seen in lakes, snow algae has a red pigment that allows it to survive harsh mountain environments.
“The red pigment means that when they bloom they give the snow this red hue,” she said. “It gets called watermelon snow because it looks like the colour of watermelon.”
A hiker holds a handful of watermelon snow, caused by snow algae. A new study examines the presence of the blooms on glaciers across North America. (Rick Bowmer/Associated Press)
The blooms darken the surface of summer snowfields, making them less reflective against the sun, causing the snowpack and the ice beneath the bloom to melt faster.
The red pigment creates a “positive feedback loop,” Quarmby said: the algae feeds on water released by the added heat.
The darker hue also acts as a “shade umbrella,” protecting the algae from being damaged by the sun, she said.
Quarmby and fellow SFU researcher Casey Engstrom set out to draw a large-scale map of the microscopic ecosystems.
They found that between 2019 and 2022, red snow covered more than 4,214 square kilometres of glacier landscape, equivalent to 4.5 per cent of the total study area.
The researchers estimate that the red snow contributed an average of three centimetres of snow meltwater per season.
“The impact of [the algae] is discernible, it’s real,” Quarmby said. “But of all the things we have to worry about that are amplifying climate change, it’s not one we have to worry about.”
Snow algae was found on 4,552 of 8,700 glaciers studied.
Some had just a patch but many had vast blooms. For example, in 2020, algae covered nearly two-thirds of the surface area of Alberta’s Bow Glacier in the Wapta Icefield.
Glaciers along the Pacific Northwest coast are usually teeming with algae but during the heat dome of 2020, the ice melted so fast, the blooms did not have a chance to develop.
Quarmby said as snow begins to disappear amid rising temperatures, the algae will also vanish. It will mean the loss of a valuable ecosystem that scientists are just beginning to understand.
“For me, it’s one more little sadness that we’re losing it. If you see these things under the microscope, they’re spectacular. Even if you see them just on the landscape, it’s awe-inspiring.”
A hiker walks across pink-hued snow at Tony Grove Lake on Wednesday, June 28, 2023, near Logan, Utah. (Rick Bowmer/Associated Press)
Scott Hotaling, a Utah State University ecologist who studies biodiversity in cold and high altitude environments, said the scope of research is impressive. Hotaling was not involved with the SFU study.
By relying on satellite images, the researchers were able to study glaciers previously inaccessible to science and gather data on a massive scale, he said.
Hotaling said the work provides an important baseline for the impact of snow algae on retreating glaciers.
“As the snowpack dwindles, these blooms are going to become increasingly concentrated and smaller and smaller.
“The melting characteristics of that snow algae are going to become increasingly important. When there’s only a small amount of snow left, anything that affects that matters more.”
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
