4413217e_mera_modes_for__anyway____CNET__Description
[Mode] Beach and Snow [Uses] For any scene with a lot of white or light colors in it. [Description] 
Because a camera's automatic exposure is based on an average scene brightness, all-white shots will tend to look gray and low contrast. To compensate, you should always slightly overexpose them. This scene mode does that automatically. If it's a Snow-only mode, then it might also adjust the white balance to compensate for the fact that reflected snow looks bluish rather than white.
What are all those camera modes for, anyway? - CNET