NASA Studies Details of a Greening Arctic

NASA scientists used almost 30 years of data from the NASA/U.S. Geological Survey Landsat satellites to track changes in vegetation in Alaska and Canada. Of the more than 4 million square miles, 30 percent had increases in vegetation (greening) while only 3 percent had decreases (browning).

Temperatures are warming faster in the Arctic than elsewhere, which has led to longer seasons for plants to grow in and changes to the soils. Scientists have observed grassy tundras changing to shrublands, and shrubs growing bigger and denser – changes that could have impacts on regional water, energy, and carbon cycles. With the large, continental-scale map complete, researchers will focus on the more human scale – looking at local conditions to see what might control the greening patterns, whether it's local topography, nearby water sources, or particular types of habitat. They also plan to investigate forested areas, particularly in the greening Quebec.

More information:

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Matthew Radcliff
Music: "Alaska," by Janik Riegert [GEMA], Josh Tapen [GEMA]

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[DavidMauas]

I think it's so great and important that NASA is doing climate research and posting these things.
Thank you very much on behalf of the world

[CensorbugbearReports]

Very good news. We can use an extra continent. Welcome all that new green to the planet with open arms...

[CyPhi]

The warming is moving north but the sunlight isn't. Growing enough food with shorter days presents its own problems. We have seed banks that can be searched for plants that can help us or modified to help us as the climate changes. I would expect countries like Canada and Russia (as mentioned in another post) have been working on that.
As the Arctic summer thaw lengthens, it becomes more important to shipping. The Russians have several nuclear powered ice breakers and seem to be ahead of most countries in this area.
Also, plant growth or seed production is not linear as atmospheric gas composition changes, CO2, O2 or anything else. I was a forestry major. Been there. Blanket statements about more plants or larger plants or wider ranges or changes in any other factor as CO2 increases and warming moves north sort of oversimplify the case. This, of course, is why NASA data from satellites can help the world so much.

[ProfessorTravis]

Thanks for this! I'm going to use it in the Biology class I teach at the University of Alaska.
We already discuss this with moose migrating farther north due to the extended growing season of the plants allowing them to grow larger and stay above the snow during the winter.

[jerrymixon]

Increased greening equals increased CO2 sink to remove extra Carbon from Atmosphere. It should help moderate warming.

[hcn]

Polar regions are heating faster than any other area, that's why.

[rkpetry]

What is the cumulative effect—shrub density × persistence days × sunlight coefficiency...

[rosangelalimasousa]

acho k deveriam traduzir esses vídeos pra quem não sabe nada de inglês. gosto de assistir mais não entendo nada.

[rkornilo]

Sooo.. is this a GOOD thing? I would think that more greening means less freezing and therefore higher temperatures.

[StephenGillie]

Can someone tell me if this is good or bad or both - and why?

[ryankingstone]

More CO2 in the atmosphere = greener globe over time

[niteexplorer]

let's make NASA great again vote for Trump

[Tasarte]

The warmer, the wetter, the greener Arctic and Sahara. Life expansion.

[malignor]

Good to see some good news from all the climate change we're causing.
Plants love dat CO2.
So long as we can adapt our agriculture to the changes in arable land, the impact of desertification can be mitigated.
Still worried about the weather effects caused by desalinization of the oceans tho...
And the ecological effects of all the migration-disruptions, mass-extinctions and so on.
Not keen on wide scale starvation. Shit like that often leads to wars.

[calculon]

It seems to me, in Canada and Alaska at least, that a lot of land is becoming much more habitable due to climate change.

[anj]

Im curious, what does this mean for global warming?

[qbaqba]

co by nie mówić o NASA że drogie itp ale robią jednak kawał dobrej roboty

[joseorta]

if the going to turn green you should plant tree

[selfworm]

These additional plants seem to fortunately be growing in some of the least populated regions on Earth so hopefully they won't be as easy or profitable to cut down and destroy as the rest of the world's plants.

[santasxgirlfriend]

always has been climate change and as long as there is earth there will be! i can not believe people deny this-we need to adapt when we can and change what we need to do to survive