“Widespread greening” is spreading in Antarctica: how can we explain it?

According to this study, based on the analysis of satellite images, Antarctica has undergone a “widespread greening” in recent years. Thomas Roland is one of the people behind the study. He explained the phenomenon to our colleagues from the newspaper Le Monde: “Only a tiny fraction of theAntarctic is colonized by plants. But this area has increased dramatically, showing that even this vast, remote wilderness is being affected by human-caused climate change.“For the moment, the vegetation is mainly composed of moss but this could evolve towards other types of plants over time.

If vegetation is spreading so much, it is notably linked to global warming. The journal Nature geoscience notes that temperatures are changing particularly quickly in this region of the world, with strong heat waves of up to 39 degrees in recent years. This causes the ice floes to melt, and therefore the humidity. The plants then develop quickly since they are in favorable conditions.

Could Antarctica collapse and flood Belgium all the way to Brussels? Scientists fearfully watch for signs of ‘tipping’