Antarctica’s icy peninsula turns green as temperatures rise

The icy landscapes of the Antarctic Peninsula are becoming greener, with vegetation spreading across the once predominantly frozen terrain.

During the past 38 years, the area covered by plants has increased more than tenfold, according to satellite imagery from NASA.

Between 1986 and 2021, vegetation expanded from 0.33 square miles to 4.61 square miles, with significant growth accelerating after 2016. The greening trend is attributed to rising temperatures, which have made the Antarctic Peninsula one of the fastest-warming regions on Earth.

Photo: NASA

“This trend echoes a wider pattern of greening in cold-climate ecosystems in response to recent warming,” the researchers wrote. The study, led by Tom Roland from the University of Exeter and Olly Bartlett from the University of Hertfordshire, highlights how this transformation could impact the peninsula's ecology, potentially opening the door for invasive plant species.

NASA’s Landsat data reveals that much of the new vegetation comprises mosses, which dominate the landscape at elevations below 1,000 feet. Field studies have shown that moss accumulation is accelerating, particularly on the western side of the peninsula and the South Shetland Islands.

“The rate of greening itself is quite striking, especially in the last few years,” Olly Bartlett noted.

Antarctica hosts a variety of mosses, liverworts, lichens, and fungi, but only two native species of flowering plants. As moss ecosystems expand, there is a growing concern that soil formation could facilitate the introduction of non-native species, posing a threat to the continent’s biodiversity.

The rapid environmental changes on the Antarctic Peninsula coincide with alarming ice loss. The Antarctic ice sheet is losing about 150 billion tons of ice annually, contributing to rising sea levels.

According to NASA, the rate of global sea level rise could double by 2100 if ice melt in Antarctica and Greenland continues at its current pace.

While the greening of Antarctica highlights the planet's shifting climate, it also raises questions about the future of its fragile ecosystems. “We need to go to these places where we’re seeing the most distinctive changes and see what’s happening on the ground,” Tom Roland said.