Unsettling discovery

Scientists made an unsettling discovery in the Antarctic. It's likely an omen.

By Ariana Bindman

A surreal phenomenon is unfolding in one of the most barren, mystifying regions on Earth, and according to a recent article from NASA, scientists say that it could be a new byproduct of global warming.  

According to an October 2024 study published in Nature Geoscience, vegetation is taking over the Antarctic Peninsula, turning its edges into a verdant landscape worthy of plein air painting. After analyzing satellite data collected from 1986 to 2021, scientists from the universities of Exeter and Hertfordshire were shocked to discover that the greenery grew from 0.86 square kilometer to 11.95 square kilometers, spreading much faster than initially thought. It seems to have grown quicker in the last five years in particular, the paper continued. Though the region has been significantly warming for the past 60 years, rates of warming are highest in the Antarctic Peninsula and West Antarctic, authors wrote. 

Previous studies by some of the same researchers revealed that moss creates “carpets” along these frozen tundras, transforming them into green panoramas. Ardley Island, a 1.9-kilometer-long isle on the outskirts of the Antarctic, is just one example — but after analyzing data collected from several sites over the course of 150 years, scientists found that this vegetation grew exponentially in the past half century due to climate change.

And now, they say that this explosion of lush, emerald-green plants could be an omen.  

“The regional sensitivity of moss growth to past temperature rises suggests that terrestrial ecosystems will alter rapidly under future warming, leading to major changes in the biology and landscape of this iconic region,” authors wrote in a 2017 study. 

“Based on the core samples, we expected to see some greening,” Exeter University researcher Tom Roland told NASA, “but I don’t think we were expecting it on the scale that we reported here.” 

They didn’t expect the moss to spread so rapidly, either. “When we first ran the numbers, we were in disbelief,” co-author Olly Bartlett told the agency. “The rate itself is quite striking, especially in the last few years.” Though scientists have long warned the public about global warming, this new study seems to illustrate what happens after the ice actually melts. It could also spell disaster for the region’s balanced ecosystem by weakening the landscape, creating a window of opportunity for nonnative species to take over. 

Though the vast majority of the Antarctic is blanketed in snow and ice, its outer fringes have a surprisingly diverse ecosystem, including about 100 species of moss. It’s home to an array of liverworts, lichens and fungi, as well as two flowering plants — Deschampsia antarctica and Colobanthus quitensis — which grow in the South Orkney Islands, the South Shetland Islands and along the western Antarctic Peninsula, where temperatures are typically warmer than the rest of the region. 

According to previous studies from 2019, the areas that aren’t shielded by ice are vulnerable to biological invaders that could seriously threaten the environment: Warming temperatures, combined with Antarctic tourism, increases the risk of introducing non-native species, painting a “troubling future” for the region, study authors Grant Duffy and Jasmine Lee wrote. The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators, an organization that has been monitoring tourism trends in the region since 1991, said that more than 80,000 people visited on foot in 2023-2024 alone, while more than 43,000 traveled to the area by cruise.  

According to the December NASA story, it’s still unclear which plants are part of this blooming area and how they’re changing the fabled Antarctic landscape. “We need to go to these places where we’re seeing the most distinctive changes,” Roland told the agency, “and see what’s happening on the ground.”