Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Arctic warms as tundra shrubs grow upto trees

We have always known Tundra as a cold, treeless region in the Arctic. Due to the harsh weather at the region, tree growth is stunted. But in the recent decade, scientists have observed shrubs and willows in some part of the region, some of them even growing upwards to the height of a tree. As per the scientists, the growth of these shrubs is really linked to temperatures. Therefore they are considering the sudden growth of trees in this treeless region as an indication of warming climate in such regions. This change first came to the attention of scientists, when nomadic reindeer herdsmen, the indigenous Nenets, said they were losing sight of their reindeer in the new trees.

Roughly 30 years ago, trees were nearly unknown in the region, but about 10 per cent to 15 per cent of the land in the southern part of the north-western Eurasian tundra, which stretches between Finland and western Siberia, is now covered by new tree-size shrubs, which stand higher than 6.6 feet, new research has found. These shrubs are even growing further responding to the rise in temperature due to global warming.

To better understand the climate dynamics associated with the increase in growth in the north-western Eurasian tundra, Macias-Fauria and team studied information from the herdsmen’s observations, temperature data, growth rings in the wood of shrubs and satellite data, including observations of how much green covers the landscape during the growing season. The researchers, who detailed their work in the journal Nature Climate Change, found that the shrubs grew most in years with warm Julys.

This a clear indication and a warning note for all of us towards the rate at which global warming is booming across the globe.

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