“Watermelon snow” falls in Antarctica

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Red snow has fallen at the Antarctic station ‘Academician Vernadsky.’

Ukraine’s Ministry of Education and Science says that snow gets a reddish shade due to microscopic snow algae “Chlamydomonas nivalis.” Their spores begin to grow as the air temperature rises.

Antarctica is now going through its summer season, which is why the red snow is not an extraordinary thing here.

The ministry also says that a similar phenomenon can be seen in the Arctic and the Alps.