Why has pink snow appeared in the Alps?

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Remarkable aerial pictures show pink-colored snow in the Presena glacier in the Italian Alps.

A number of news reports say the strange pink snow in the glacier near Pellizano is the result of the algae Ancylonela nordenskioeldii, which is typically found in Greenland.

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An aerial picture taken on July 3, 2020, above the Presena glacier near Pellizzano, shows pink-colored snow. (Photo by MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP via Getty Images)

However, Biagio Di Mauro, a researcher at the Institute of Polar Sciences in Italy’s National Research Council tweeted that the pink snow was probably the result of Chlamydomonas nivalis, which is a snow alga. Ancylonema nordenskioeldii, he explained, is a glacier alga.

The phenomenon is quite common in the Alps, Di Mauro tweeted.

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Pink colored snow in an aerial picture taken on July 3, 2020 above the Presena glacier near Pellizzano. (Photo by MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP via Getty Images)

A number of news reports cited a possible link between the pink snow and climate change, although Di Mauro said that this is yet to be proven.

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In a study published in the European Journal of Phycology in 2005, scientists described Chlamydomonas nivalis. “‘Red snow’, the macroscopic expression of a massive growth of unicellular algae on alpine and polar snow fields, has been a well-known phenomenon for more than 2000 years,” they wrote.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers