The Antarctic Peninsula is greening at an alarming rate

Oct. 4 () –

The vegetation cover of the Antarctic Peninsula has multiplied by more than ten in the last four decades, with warming faster than the global average and extreme heat waves.

A new study, carried out by the universities of Exeter and Hertfordshire and the British Antarctic Survey, used satellite data to assess the extent to which the Antarctic Peninsula has “greened” in response to climate change.

It was found that the area of ​​vegetation cover across the entire peninsula increased from less than one square kilometer in 1986 to almost 12 square kilometers in 2021.

Published in the magazine Nature Geosciencethe study also found that this greening trend accelerated by more than 30% in recent years (2016-2021) relative to the entire study period (1986-2021), expanding by more than 400,000 square meters per year in this period.

In a previous study, which examined core samples taken from moss-dominated ecosystems on the Antarctic Peninsula, the team found evidence that plant growth rates had increased dramatically in recent decades.

This new study uses satellite images to confirm that a widespread greening trend, across the Antarctic Peninsula, It is underway and it is accelerating.

“The plants we find on the Antarctic Peninsula, mainly mosses, grow in perhaps the harshest conditions on Earth,” he said. in a statement Dr Thomas Roland, University of Exeter.

“The landscape is still almost entirely dominated by snow, ice and rock, with only a small fraction colonized by plant life. But that small fraction has grown dramatically, “which shows that even this vast and isolated ‘wilderness’ is being affected by anthropogenic climate change.”

The researchers highlight the urgent need for more research to establish the specific climatic and environmental mechanisms driving the “greening” trend.

“The sensitivity of the Antarctic Peninsula vegetation to climate change is now evident and, in the future, with anthropogenic warming, we could see fundamental changes to the biology and landscape of this iconic and vulnerable region“said Dr. Roland.

Researchers are now investigating how recently deglaciated (ice-free) landscapes are colonized by plants and how the process might continue in the future.