THE ARCTIC COULD BE A VACATION DESTINATION
Arctic Going Green from Warming, Study Finds
Tia Ghose, 3 April 2013 (LiveScience)
“Large swaths of the Arctic tundra will be warm enough to support lush vegetation and trees by 2050…[after higher temperatures lessen] snow cover, according to the study…[in] the journal Nature Climate Change. That, in turn, will decrease the sunlight reflected back into the atmosphere and increase warming. About half the areas will see vegetation change, and areas currently populated by shrubs may find woody trees taking their place…
“The Arctic climate affects the world: Changes in sea ice affect ocean circulation, which, in turn, affects atmospheric circulation that then impacts the globe…Past research suggested that warming has already brought later winters and earlier springs to the Arctic. And fossil forests reveal the Arctic was once green as well…To find out exactly how much greening Arctic warming would bring, the [researchers] used a model that projected how temperature changes would affect snow cover, vegetation, and the increased evaporation and transpiration from plants in the Arctic…”
“The team found that at least half of the tundra would see changes in the plant types it supported by 2050…[and] more than a 50 percent increase in how much woody greenery — such as coniferous trees — would populate the Arctic. The tree line would also shift north, with coniferous forests sprouting where shrubs once grew…Most of the greening was driven by the loss of reflectivity, or albedo, from snow cover. With less snow to reflect heat back into the atmosphere and more dark trees, the Earth gets warmer…
“That warmth supports more tree and shrub growth, creating a positive feedback cycle to the warming…The findings match forecasts for Arctic greening predicted by various other methods, and they foreshadow effects that will…[later] be happening at lower latitudes…[which] could worsen extreme weather events like Hurricane Sandy in the future…”
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