Watermelon snow "or Pink snow

Northern Hemisphere with the arrival of snow, a weather phenomenon popularly known as "appears watermelon snow "or pink snow . This falls on the mountains of Colorado, the Sierra Nevada in California, Canada, Russia and Greenland, mainly at altitudes between 3000 and 3600 meters.

The phenomenon has a scientific explanation: it originates from the germination of a seaweed called ' Chlamydomonas nivalis 'harboring inside tone red pigment called astaxanthin with snow fully stain when in contact. Astaxanthin is produced only by the microalgae when its water supply dries, forcing it to protect itself from ultraviolet radiation. This is the same carotenoid that gives red color to salmon, shrimp or a flamingo, with a comparable potent antioxidant with vitamin E to combat oxidative stress and is very beneficial for the skin, eye, and health celular.Una teaspoon of this snow has over a million of these algae. This is a photo of the head of pink snow the 'Chlamydomonas nivalis':

The first mentions of pink snow are in the writings of Aristotle.