Science & Tech · Science & Environment · 4 hrs ago
Human development is reversing Arctic vegetation gains in disturbed areas
A study found development is reducing Arctic vegetation greenness even as much of the region grows greener with warming.
Researchers led by Chong Liu and Xiao Cheng of Sun Yat-sen University tracked land across a broad Arctic region using satellite images.
They mapped 2,221 areas of human activity, covering about 8,300 square miles, including mines, roads, towns and other development.
From 2000 to 2020, disturbed land lost greenness about three times faster than nearby stable land gained it.
The opposing trends can occur in the same area, so overall Arctic greening can hide local vegetation damage.
The team compared disturbed land with nearby undisturbed ground to estimate how plants might have changed without development.
A study found that Arctic land disturbed by development lost vegetation greenness between 2000 and 2020, even as nearby undisturbed land generally grew greener.
Disturbed ground lost greenness about three times as fast as stable ground gained it within the same areas.
The researchers mapped 2,221 areas of human activity covering about 8,300 square miles (21,400 square kilometers).
They said 93.7% of recorded land disturbance within the mapped areas was linked to direct human activity.
- Who
- Researchers led by Chong Liu and Xiao Cheng of Sun Yat-sen University in China.
- What
- A study found that Arctic land disturbed by development lost greenness while nearby stable land generally gained it.
- When
- The study tracked changes from 2000 to 2020.
- Where
- The study covered a broad Arctic region extending south to Krasnoyarsk in Siberia.
- Why
- The researchers aimed to assess how human activity affected vegetation greenness across the Arctic.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The researchers tracked vegetation greenness across disturbed and stable land using satellite images.
The difference between disturbed and stable land became clear; disturbed land had been greener on average before then, while stable land was greener afterward.
- Mapped areas
- 2,221 areas of human activity
- Total area
- About 8,300 square miles (21,400 square kilometers)
- Russia
- Nearly 7,000 square miles of mapped areas were in Russia
- Disturbed land
- Lost greenness in 58.7% of mapped areas
- Stable land
- Gained greenness in 67.7% of mapped areas
- Human-caused disturbance
- 93.7% of recorded disturbance was traced to direct human activity