Antarctica Has Gotten 10 Times Greener in 35 Years

Antarctica is becoming greener due to climate change. Image Credit: Michala Garrison, based on data from Roland, T.P., et al. (2024).

Our satellites are dispassionate observers of Earth’s climate change. From their vantage point they watch as pack ice slowly loses its hold on polar oceans, ice shelfs break apart, and previously frozen parts of the planet turn green with vegetation.

Now, scientists have compiled 35 years of satellite data showing that Antarctica is slowly, yet perceptibly, becoming greener.

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As Temperatures Rise, Antarctica is Turning Green

Signy Island in the South Orkney Islands. Image Credit: By Ben Tullis from Cambridge, United Kingdom - Signy, the base and the bay, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5878735

The global climate is warming, and Earth’s polar regions are feeling the effects. A new study of the South Orkney Islands shows that the region has warmed significantly since the 1950s. The rise in warming in the South Orkneys exceeds the overall global warming.

As the islands warm, plant life is spreading.

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