The impacts of climate change on the Arctic tundra, frequently described with the collapse of glaciers and images of fractured ice beds, can now being seen in the spread of plants northward to unexpected latitudes. This ‘greening’ of the tundra is an alarming sign of how climate change is geographically shifting where different ecosystems can thrive. In an examination of plant growing patterns over 30 years of satellite records, NASA scientists found that temperature and vegetation patterns in the upper reaches of the Arctic tundra now resemble those found 4 degrees to 6 degrees of latitude farther south. “Higher northern latitudes are getting warmer, Arctic sea ice and the duration of snow cover are diminishing, the growing season is getting longer and plants are growing more,” said Ranga Myneni of Boston University’s Department of Earth and Environment. “In the north’s Arctic and boreal areas, the characteristics of the seasons are changing, leading to great disruptions for plants and related ecosystems.”
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 14:49:09 +0000
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