Climate change is not just warming Antarctica, it will also make it dramatically greener, causing a sharp increase in plant growth.
According to a Guardian report, based on analysis of satellite data, there was less than one square kilometer of vegetation in the area in 1986, but almost 12 square kilometers by 2021. The spread of plants, mainly mosses, has accelerated since 2016, they found researchers in a new study.
The growth of vegetation on a continent dominated by ice and bare rock is a sign of global warming in Antarctica, which is warming faster than the global average. Scientists have warned that this spread could provide a basis for invasive species in the pristine Antarctic ecosystem.
In fact, in 2021, rain instead of snow fell on top of the huge Greenland glacier for the first time in history.
“The Antarctic landscape is still almost entirely dominated by snow, ice and rock, with only a small portion being colonized by plants,” said Dr Thomas Roland of the University of Exeter in the UK, who co-led the study. “But this tiny fraction has increased dramatically – showing that even this vast and isolated area of 500,000 square kilometers is being affected by human-induced climate change,” he added.
Roland warned that future warming, which will continue until carbon emissions are stopped, could bring about “fundamental changes to the biology and landscape of this iconic and vulnerable region”. The study was published in the journal Nature Geoscience and is based on analysis of Landsat images.
The acceleration of the moss’s spread since 2016 coincides with the start of a marked reduction in the extent of sea ice around Antarctica. Warmer open seas may lead to wetter conditions that favor plant growth, the researchers said. Mosses can colonize bare rocks and create the foundations of soils that, along with milder climates, could allow other plants to grow.
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