Snowmelt duration controls red algal blooms in the snow of the European Alps.

ABSTRACT: Algae populate multiple habitats, including snow and ice, where they can form red blooms. These decrease snow albedo, accelerating snowmelt and potentially feeding back on snow and glacier decline caused by climate change. Quantifying this feedback requires the understanding of bloom evolution with climate change. Little, however, is known about the drivers of red snow blooms. Here, we develop an algorithm to analyze 5 y of satellite data from the European Alps and separate bloom occurrences from similarly colored Saharan dust depositions. In a second step, we combine the occurrences of blooms with meteorological data and snow simulations to identify the drivers of blooms. Results show that the upward migration of algae from the ground and blooming requires the presence of liquid water thr

SUBMITTER: Roussel L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11474047 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature