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posted by on Saturday May 20 2017, @10:02AM   Printer-friendly
from the i'd-settle-for-a-nice-shamrock dept.

In the past 50 years the quantity and rate of plant growth has shot up, says study, suggesting further warming could lead to rapid ecosystem changes.

Antarctica may conjure up an image of a pristine white landscape, but researchers say climate change is turning the continent green.

Scientists studying banks of moss in Antarctica have found that the quantity of moss, and the rate of plant growth, has shot up in the past 50 years, suggesting the continent may have a verdant future.

"Antarctica is not going to become entirely green, but it will become more green than it currently is," said Matt Amesbury, co-author of the research from the University of Exeter.

"This is linking into other processes that are happening on the Antarctic Peninsula at the moment, particularly things like glacier retreat which are freeing up new areas of ice-free land – and the mosses particularly are very effective colonisers of those new areas," he added.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/may/18/climate-change-is-turning-antarctica-green-say-reseatchers

The study in question: Widespread Biological Response to Rapid Warming on the Antarctic Peninsula


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 20 2017, @12:03PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 20 2017, @12:03PM (#512590)

    The gaurdian also shared this the other day: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/19/arctic-stronghold-of-worlds-seeds-flooded-after-permafrost-melts [theguardian.com]

    It is about a doomsday seed vault in the arctic meant to protect against disasters like climate change. According to the gaurdian, the people running it were idiots. Idiots who didnt think ahead that the ice they put it in might melt due to climate change, so it is threatened after only 10 yrs. Of course, this narrative is too ridiculous to be true so I wonder what is really going on.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 20 2017, @12:06PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 20 2017, @12:06PM (#512591)

    guardian

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 20 2017, @10:03PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 20 2017, @10:03PM (#512748)

      Grauniad

  • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday May 20 2017, @01:44PM (2 children)

    by kaszz (4211) on Saturday May 20 2017, @01:44PM (#512607) Journal

    Maybe it's better to put in the ground inside the Antarctic Plateau? really cold and far away from just about anything?

    With an average high of −26.0 °C in January and average low of −63.4 °C in July it should keep most things cold around the year. Besides getting into the ground ought to be easy. Just melt the ice..

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 20 2017, @08:31PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 20 2017, @08:31PM (#512706)

      No, burying it in ice without planning for the ice melting is idiotic. Put it in a mountain instead, one where no glaciers should reach even if we hit the depths of an ice age[1].

      [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vostok_Petit_data.svg [wikipedia.org]

      • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday May 20 2017, @11:16PM

        by kaszz (4211) on Saturday May 20 2017, @11:16PM (#512779) Journal

        Is there any mountain that is cold enough?
        And won't flood the facility..