Antarctic Peninsula has become 10 times greener in just 40 years

Antarctica, known as the White Continent, is going green.

Scientists from the British Antarctic Survey analysed satellite data of the Antarctic Peninsula and found that vegetation cover has increased more than 10-fold over the past 40 years.

Vegetation took up an area of less than 1km² in 1986, but this grew to almost 12km² by 2021. And the researchers found that the trend is speeding up – greening increased by more than 30% from 2016 to 2021.

“The plants we find on the Antarctic Peninsula – mostly mosses – grow in perhaps the harshest conditions on Earth,” says Dr Thomas Roland of the University of Exeter, co-author of the study published in Nature Geoscience.

“The landscape is still almost entirely dominated by snow, ice and rock, with only a tiny fraction colonised by plant life. But that tiny fraction has grown dramatically – showing that even this vast and isolated wilderness is being affected by anthropogenic climate change.”

Polar regions have warmed twice as much as the global average since the industrial revolution. The Antarctic Peninsula, which juts out from West Antarctica near the southernmost tip of South America, experienced more warming in the latter half of the 20th century than any other place in the southern hemisphere.

Co-author Dr Olly Bartlett, from the University of Hertfordshire, says that as these ecosystems become more established – and the climate continues to warm – it’s likely that the extent of greening will increase.

“Soil in Antarctica is mostly poor or non-existent, but this increase in plant life will add organic matter and facilitate soil formation – potentially paving the way for other plants to grow,” says Bartlett.

“This raises the risk of non-native and invasive species arriving, possibly carried by eco-tourists, scientists or other visitors to the continent.”

Roland adds: “The sensitivity of the Antarctic Peninsula’s vegetation to climate change is now clear and, under future anthropogenic warming, we could see fundamental changes to the biology and landscape of this iconic and vulnerable region.

“Our findings raise serious concerns about the environmental future of the Antarctic Peninsula, and of the continent as a whole. To protect Antarctica, we must understand these changes and identify precisely what is causing them.”