Algae that commonly grow on snow in the Pacific Northwest have been ignored in melt models, but their presence significantly increases snowmelt compared with clean, white snow, according to a study conducted on Mount Baker in the North Cascades, Washington. Scientist Alia Khan at Western Washington University and the National Snow and Ice Data Center at […]
A group of University of Alaska Fairbanks faculty, students and staff has been conducting Arctic fieldwork in Utqiagvik since mid-April to measure snowmelt, but the melt only started in mid-June. This is an exceptionally late melt year. The Snow Albedo Evolution in the Arctic team, or SALVO, has been working hard through the midnight sun, […]
With a whisper, middle Alaska is undergoing its biggest change of the year. Billions of snowflakes waft to the dark, wet ground, linking their spiky, broken arms as they collide, settling into a white cushion. The great albedo change of 2019 might be here. Snow is covering this part of Alaska that gets coldest in […]