Green Snow

Green Snow refers to snow that has a greenish hue often in cold, snowy regions such as Antarctica, Greenland, and Alaska where due to various environmental factors including algae growth, penguin colonies and others near birds’ nesting sites, where shifting ecosystems can also influence the presence of algae and other organisms that may color the snow. While it can be visually striking, it often signals underlying ecological changes and environmental health concerns. We all love green, but this green is an environmental alarm. Shiny ice and white snow were meant to reflect the sun’s heat off the planet, not absorb it.

As temperatures rise, green snow is expected to become more common. The algae can capture carbon dioxide and release oxygen through photosynthesis, which may help remove carbon dioxide from the air and can accelerate snowmelt, which can contribute to faster ice retreat. A 2023 study found that ice sheets can retreat in bursts of up to 600 meters per day, which is 20 times faster than what has been observed by satellites in Antarctica.

Scientists are warning the Antarctic Ice Sheet, known formally as the Thwaites Glacier, will deteriorate “further and faster” and that sea level rise triggered by the melting could impact “hundreds of millions” in coastal communities. It’s an unusually broad and vast Antarctic glacier located east of Mount Murphy, on the Walgreen Coast of Marie Byrd Land. It was initially sighted by polar researchers in 1940, mapped in 1959–1966 and officially named in 1967, after the late American glaciologist Fredrik T. Thwaites. He was professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Roughly the size of the state of Florida, it is one of the largest glaciers in the world. Scientists predict that its collapse could contribute to 65 centimeters, or roughly 26 inches in sea level rise. Approximately 1/3 of the front of the Twaites is currently covered by a thick plate of ice floating in the ocean that blocks ice from flowing into the sea. As the temperatures in the area continue to rise due to the climate crisis, these islands could lose their snow cover in the summer.