The scientists used the machine to file the snow’s albedo, a measure of what fraction of the daylight beaming down is mirrored again up. Red snow means decrease albedo, which suggests extra absorbed daylight and sooner snowmelt. Other elements additionally affect albedo, together with filth, mud and ash from wildfires. Sand from the Gobi Desert can blow all the way in which to the Pacific Northwest, whereas mud from the shrinking Great Salt Lake typically coats the Wasatch Mountains. The crew additionally measured the pigment focus of the snow with a second spectroradiometer to determine how a lot of the pink shade spectrum, more than likely from the snow algae, was current.

A bighorn sheep supervised from a jagged cliff excessive above us because the crew labored via the remainder of their routine: measuring the water content material of the snow, amassing baggage of snow samples, and taking a snow core that exposed two layers of algal blooms, together with a definite rusty band just a few inches beneath the floor.

Later that day, in a lab on the University of Montana’s Flathead Lake Biological Station, Elser and Almela Gomez would use the samples to check which inputs assist snow algae develop. They’ll soften the snow, combine it collectively, and add vitamins like nitrogen and phosphorus. Then, after 5 to 10 days below develop lights in a chilly incubator, they’ll measure the chlorophyll ranges to see how a lot the algae grew. 

The two kinds of vitamins come from totally different locations. Previous work means that the phosphorus is present in rocks floor up by glacial motion, whereas nitrogen is blown in from the chemical fertilizers and manure in agricultural areas. The researchers suspect that each kinds of vitamins encourage algae development, however they’re notably excited by nitrogen. They consider algal blooms is perhaps particularly frequent within the Intermountain Rockies on account of wind patterns, they usually’re hoping to study extra concerning the dynamics concerned. 

The crew’s work is a part of the small however rising discipline of snow algae analysis. The scientists hope to determine what permits snow algae to thrive, and the place it’s more than likely to dwell. The Living Snow Project, a citizen science initiative created by Western Washington University researchers, requested skiers, climbers and hikers to assist acquire pink snow samples. Scientists have additionally converged on surging algal blooms within the French Alps. 

Learning what influences snow algae development is a vital step in understanding a altering water provide. More algae probably means extra soften, and figuring out the place algae would possibly quicken snowmelt is very essential for the drought-prone Western US. Gradual snowmelt is sweet; it creates a extra predictable water provide downstream for reservoirs, and infuses streams with the chilly water that fisheries and different aquatic life depend on all through scorching summer season months. Rapid snowmelt, nevertheless, brings a bunch of different issues. 

Elser in contrast the snow’s position to ice in a cocktail. “The ice is melting, but your drink is still nice and cold until that last piece of ice goes away,” he mentioned. “Then it’s like, ‘What happened? My drink is warm.’” If snow algae hastens snowmelt or melts all of the snow shortly, streams might find yourself hotter than common and have much less water because the summer season advances. “It’s a pretty big deal,” mentioned Scott Hotaling, a member of the snow algae analysis crew and an assistant professor at Utah State University who research altering mountain ecosystems. “We talk about the whole West being in a drought, and if there’s going to be another factor that perpetuates earlier melt, that’s important.”