Antarctic alarm: Earth's cold chamber turns green due to extreme heat wave | Life & Knowledge


Antarctica – the eternal ice desert is turning green! Researchers are sounding the alarm because parts of the icy continent are changing rapidly. Extreme heat events are causing vegetation to explode on the Antarctic Peninsula.

Since 1986, the flora there has increased more than tenfold. Particularly dramatic: between 2016 and 2021, vegetation grew more than 30 percent faster.

Moss covers the rocks at Norsel Point, an arm of an island off the Antarctic Peninsula

Moss now covers the rocks at Norsel Point, an arm of an island off the Antarctic Peninsula

Photo: Dan Charman

▶︎ In 1986, the plant world covered one square kilometer of the Antarctic Peninsula, in 2021 it was almost 13 square kilometers, as has now been published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

The Antarctic is the coldest place on earth: minus 30 degrees in summer and minus 60 degrees in winter. But extreme heat events cause temperatures to rise up to 10 degrees Celsius above normal in summer, and by up to 21 degrees Celsius in March 2022.

The satellite image of Robert Island north of the Antarctic Peninsula

More green than white: A satellite image of Robert Island north of the Antarctic Peninsula

Photo: Tom Roland

▶︎ This has major consequences for Antarctica’s coastal ecosystems. Thomas Roland, environmental scientist at the University of Exeter (England), explains: “Our results confirm that the influence of human-caused climate change knows no limits.” The change is visible even on the remote Antarctic Peninsula.

Seeds, spores and plant parts could easily reach the region by tourists and researchers or via migratory birds and wind, says Roland. That could be the whole thing Ecosystem to falter.

The penguins are still sunning themselves on an iceberg in the Weddell Sea on the Antarctic Peninsula

This is how we knew Antarctica until now: penguins on an iceberg in the Weddell Sea

Photo: Getty Images/fStop

▶︎ Another problem: Antarctica's white ice cover reflects the sun's rays back into space. So it stays cooler. But the darker surfaces of the plants absorb more heat, which could further accelerate warming.

The researchers warn that warming and thus green cover will continue to increase. The greener the peninsula, the more soil is created, which could encourage invasive species.

▶︎ Olly Bartlett, lecturer in remote sensing and geography at the University of Hertfordshire, warns: “This iconic landscape could be changed forever.”

The scientists' methods primarily cover larger moss fields, but lichens, grasses and snow algae also contribute to the vegetation area. The percentage increase in Plant world is dramatic and shows the trend towards the spread of vegetation in Antarctica.

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