Concern Growing in Antarctica About Phenomenon Sweeping and Changing Region

Researchers are finding some troubling trends developing in Antarctica that could change life there as we know it.

A lone chinstrap penguin sits atop an iceberg in Antarctica. Travel Visiting The End Of The Earth On An Antarctic Expedition / Trevor Hughes/USA TODAY Network

Antarctica is the fifth largest continent in the world, virtually uninhabited because of how cold it is and how much of the area is covered in ice. It makes for a very unique place to do excursions given how different the landscape is there compared to other places on Earth.

Lemaire Channel and different boat guided tours are offered to see the frozen tundra. Different wildlife exists given the arctic temperatures and incredible memories can be made jumping in the water.

However, even a place as cold as Antarctica cannot avoid the effects of the Earth’s core warming and reaching record high temperatures.

Concern is beginning to grow amongst researchers because of the rapidly growing plant life around the continent. The phenomenon known as greening has been popping up on satellites data because of the increased temperatures.

"This place had been hidden from the atmosphere for thousands of years and was colonized by plants within a couple of decades of it becoming ice-free — it's astonishing, really," professor Andrew Shepherd of Northumbria University said, via Margaret Wong of The Cool Down.

Moss and hairgrass are the two most prominent plant lives that are beginning to pop up in Antarctica. Since the last time data was collected in 2009-2019, some of the areas have already doubled in growth rates.

This isn’t a new development, as “research showed that vegetation cover across the Antarctic Peninsula has increased more than tenfold over the last four decades,” per USA Today. But the speed at which is occurring is certainly raising eyebrows.

That is concerning for an ecosystem that has been buried in ice for so long. The pristine region could face new an unexpected issues, as invasive species may not be far from ravaging the beautiful landscape.

All ecosystems in Antarctica could be in for a shock with how quickly things are shifting. This highlights just how dangerous the warming of global climate is, as even the coldest places are beginning to show signs of life that wasn’t previously ever thought to be possible.

The collapsing of ice shelves is what goes viral on social media, but there is a lot to be concerned about in the region. Some of it is inevitable, but there are ways to slow the changes down with climate agreements to slow the negative impacts occurring in places such as Antarctica.