Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Scientists looked at images from space to see how fast Antarctica is
turning green. Here’s what they found
The climate of Antarctica is the coldest on Earth and also extremely
dry. Snow rarely melts on most parts of the continent. The mean annual
temperature of the interior is below -40 degrees Celsius and the warmest coast area
is around -10 degrees. There are no trees or shrubs, and only two plant species
are found on the south islands and western Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctic hair
grass and Antarctic pearlwort. The marine ecosystem around the western
continental shelf of the Antarctic Peninsula has been subjected to rapid
climate change. Recently, having analyzed satellite imagery and data, scientists
have found that the vegetation levels on the peninsula have increased rapidly, more
than 10 times over the past four decades, especially between 2016 and 2021. As
the peninsula greens, the region is likely to be invaded by species that
aren’t native to Antarctica, which will threaten the continent’s ecosystem.
Also, the greener Antarctica becomes, the more heat will be absorbed by the
land, and the less solar radiation will be reflected back into space. So, a greener
Antarctica is bad news not only for its ecosystem and environment but also for global
warming.
Read the article and see the images of greens in Antarctica.
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