scientificillustration:

invisiblestories:

“Red snow” along cliffs in Greenland, from John Ross’ A Voyage of Discovery (1819)

Watermelon snow or red snow is caused by the presence of the algae Chlamydomonas nivalis

*Facts!* Nivalis refers to snow, since this algae is cryophilic (such a good word; a kind of biological *~*extremism*~* referring to being ‘cold loving’ - - (“Her cryophilic husband”))
This algae supports microecosystems of mostly snow fleas, then insects and arachnids, hunted by tiny beaked birds.

*Semi-related news!*: salt-loving extremophiles (Halophytes) are currently being researched as alternative fuel/food sources for places with issues in freshwater access or maintenance. This is kind of cool since it solves that big old water use thing agriculture has. Dunno if you’ve heard about that in the papers or the radios.