Images of snow algae and snow cyanobacteria on snow fields in the Beartooth Mountains of Wyoming and Montana

Images of snow algae and snow cyanobacteria on snow fields in the Beartooth Mountains near the Beartooth Pass Summit (elevation 10,947 ft/3,368 m) on Highway 212. Top left shows a typical pink snow algae bloom on a patch of snow, and top right shows the snow algae bloom scraped off the snow surface with a rock hammer. Bottom image shows pink snow algae on the upper snowbank and blue-green and orange-brown snow cyanobacteria in the lower portions of the snow patch. Photos by Jeff Having, University of Minnesota, taken in July 2019.