As sea ice extent declined over the past years, Arctic tundra has received an increased amount of summer warmth and has gotten greener. Arctic tundra (Figure 4) is a maritime biome, most of which can be found within 100 kilometers (62 miles) of seasonally ice-covered seas. This proximity to sea ice limits the tundra’s exposure to available warmth and vegetation growth. Over 30 years of remote sensing data show that the decline in sea ice extent corresponds to land surface warming (Figure 5, left panel) and increased vegetation cover (Figure 5, right panel, Maximum Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, or MaxNDVI). When sea ice extent is below average in coastal seas, land surfaces warm, and satellites see a stronger signal of vegetation. Figure 5. These charts show trends in spring sea ice, land surface warmth, open water area, and vegetation from 1982 to 2012. The percent trend highlights the size of relative changes in the Arctic.Sea ice (top left) is shown as percent concentration; land surface temperature (top right) is expressed as summer warmth index (SWI); open water (bottom left) is expressed as percent of area; and vegetation (bottom right) is shown as Maximum Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (MaxNDVI). Data are derived from AVHRR. ||Credit: U.S. Bhatt| High-resolution image Figure 5. These charts show trends in spring sea ice, land surface warmth, open water area, and vegetation from 1982 to 2012. The percent trend highlights the size of relative changes in the Arctic. Sea ice (top left) is shown as percent concentration; land surface temperature (top right) is expressed as summer warmth index (SWI); open water (bottom left) is expressed as percent of area; and vegetation (bottom right) is shown as Maximum Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (MaxNDVI). Data are derived from AVHRR. Credit: U.S. Bhatt High-resolution image However, the same data offer a few puzzles. While land surface warming and vegetation cover have steadily increased in the vicinity of Greenland over the last thirty years, warming and vegetation have actually decreased in some parts of Eurasia over the last decade. This suggests that once sea ice declines or the climate warms beyond a limit, other processes begin to play a more central role in summer climate variability, such as moisture availability in the soil or cloudiness, which can lead to cooler conditions during the northern summer. Another mystery is the decline in vegetation cover over the southwest Alaskan tundra despite an increase in land surface temperature over the same period. Researchers are looking into these puzzles as they think ahead to what the tundra may look like in a future of ice-free summers.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 07:10:13 +0000
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