An update on blue snow holes

A simple radiative transfer model, new estimates of the imaginary part of ice's refractive index k , and color matching functions are used to simulate colors, as seen by humans, in holes made in snowpacks. This study was inspired by recent photographs, made under overcast skies, that show a dramatic contrast between the lack‐lustre, near‐gray of holes made in a midlatitude snowpack and the vivid blue of snow holes at the South Pole. While this …