Ice cave opened up in collapsed snow-slope
Dennis Allsopp
- 1980's - Antarcticans Database Project -
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1980 - Melt water flows down under the snow slope making a cave. Eventually the cave gets too big and the roof can't support itself so it collapses. There's snow algae giving a pink tinge to the sides of the slope too. This is algae that grows inside the ice fed by the minerals in the melt water that run over the snow and ice and in response to longer daylight hours in the spring and summer months.
Apparently this algae smells like melon when you walk on the snow, though I can't say I ever noticed it, of course now I know, I'd be readily placing my nose a few cm above the snow surface to check it out.
Photo; © Dennis Allsopp