Climate Action

Is this really the Arctic?

A river winds through forest as seen in an aerial view in Alaska. Image: REUTERS/Bob Strong

Emma Luxton
Senior Writer , Forum Agenda

The Arctic is becoming greener, according to NASA, which has released a video showing almost 30% of land in the region turning leafier over the past 28 years.

It shows the changing Arctic as viewed from space, with green pixels depicting areas where plants have become larger or leafier than in the past. Brown pixels show less leafy matter.

Loading...

Between 1984 and 2012, the US space agency tracked changes in vegetation across 4 million square miles of Alaska and Canada. As the video shows, around 30% of land became leafier, while only 3% went brown.

The Arctic is the fastest-warming region in the northern hemisphere, and climate change and its impact on the environment is believed to be causing this increase in green land.

“It shows the climate impact on vegetation in the high latitudes,” Jeffrey Masek, a scientist who worked on the study, explained.

With warmer and longer seasons for plants to grow, scientists have observed grassy tundras changing to shrub lands, with shrubs growing larger and more densely than before.

These changes are expected to have an impact on water, energy and carbon cycles, which researchers plan to investigate further, looking at local conditions to see what might be behind the changes.

Scientists believe the greening of the Arctic may increase its capacity to act as a “sink” for atmospheric carbon. The region already absorbs about 3.7 million tonnes of carbon a year.

But this might not be enough to offset the negative consequences of the shrinking of Arctic permafrost, which along with soil, holds between 37 million and 77 million tonnes of atmospheric carbon. Permafrost is expected to shrink by a quarter by 2100.

Have you read?

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

Sign up for free

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Stay up to date:

Arctic

Related topics:
Climate ActionNature and Biodiversity
Share:
The Big Picture
Explore and monitor how Arctic is affecting economies, industries and global issues
A hand holding a looking glass by a lake
Crowdsource Innovation
Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale
World Economic Forum logo
Global Agenda

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

Subscribe today

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.

Could Chinese hot pot fuel your next flight?

Giorgio Parolini and Yiran He

December 6, 2024

Can climate tech save our cities?

About us

Engage with us

  • Sign in
  • Partner with us
  • Become a member
  • Sign up for our press releases
  • Subscribe to our newsletters
  • Contact us

Quick links

Language editions

Privacy Policy & Terms of Service

Sitemap

© 2024 World Economic Forum