Growing shrubs in the Arctic of western Siberia. By B.C. Forbs.
This news about Arctic shrubs’ growing into trees over 2 m is already everywhere. Here is what the TIME magazine website says:
Researchers in Britain and Finland studied an area of 38,600 sq. mi (100,000 sq. km) in what’s known as the northwestern Eurasian tundra, which stretches from western Siberia to Finland. Surveys of vegetation in the region using both satellite data and local observations from reindeer herders showed that in 8 to 15% of the territory willow and alder shrubs had grown into trees over 6.5 ft. (2 m) tall over the past 30 to 40 years. That’s a period of time when temperatures in the Arctic have increased significantly, even faster than other parts of the planet.
So, it’s happening…
That’s a sign of just how the fast the Arctic in particular can respond to global environmental change. And as the Arctic greens, it could speed warming even more as the darker foilage absorbs sunlight that would have been reflected back into space by the white tundra, says Andrew Revkin of Dot Earth.
Learn more at Time.com.
See images of the Arctic on ColdUnited.com.
Keep reading:
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- What’s Sergei Zimov’s Pleistocene Park in Siberia’s Yakutia about? [science]
- Lake Baikal’s giant telescope to unravel the Milky Way mystery
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