Startled with red snow like blood

Snow ice is inherently cold but red snow makes people shudder because of the scary blood color.

Red snow like blood?

In high mountain areas, at an altitude of 3,000 to 3,600 meters, red snow makes the scene a creepy impression.

This strange natural phenomenon is often seen in the summer months in California's Sierra Nevada, USA - where temperatures are low enough for snow from winter storms to not dissipate during the summer months.

When the person walking on the snowboard will leave red footprints, such as just sprinkled with watermelon on top, even snow smells of fresh watermelon so called 'watermelon snow'.

In the past, some people speculated that the red of the snow was due to geological factors from mineral deposits on snow or chemicals washed away from rocks.

In fact, the red color of the snow here is caused by a kind of snow algae whose scientific name is Chlamydomonas nivalis.

Although snow algae are actually green, they also contain bright red carotenoid pigments, which protect the algae from the Sun's ultraviolet radiation.Red also helps absorb heat, providing water to algae when the surrounding snow melts.

Unlike other algae, this algae grows very well in cold snow.In the winter months, when snow is covered, algae are almost 'inactive'.

By spring and summer, when the temperature rises, snow melts, nutrients promote the germination of snow algae.After they germinate, algae grow on the surface of the snow and appear pink markings.