Climate News Network: Microscopic forms of coloured algae are suspected of helping to speed up the melting rate of snow by reducing its crucial ability to reflect the suns rays. German scientists have fingered a new suspect in the great glacial melting mystery. The secret agent that may be darkening the summer snows and speeding up the absorption of solar rays is a family of microscopic, cold-loving organisms that tint the snow red.
The identification is not a simple matter, and no arrest is likely to be made soon....