Of the 10 million square miles (26 million square kilometers) of northern vegetated lands,
34 to 41 percent showed increases in plant growth (green and blue), 3 to 5 percent showed
decreases in plant growth (orange and red), and 51 to 62 percent showed no changes (yellow)
over the past 30 years. Satellite data in this visualization are from AVHRR and MODIS. Credit:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/10mar_greenhouseshift/
Amplified Greenhouse Effect Shifts North's Growing Seasons
As a result of enhanced warming and a longer growing season, large patches of vigorously productive vegetation now span a third of the northern landscape, or more than 3.5 million square miles (9 million square kilometers). That is an area about equal to the contiguous United States. This landscape resembles what was found 250 to 430 miles (400 to 700 kilometers) to the south in 1982.
"It's like Winnipeg, Manitoba, moving to Minneapolis-Saint Paul in only 30 years," said co-author Compton Tucker of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
The Arctic's greenness is visible on the ground as an increasing abundance of tall shrubs and trees in locations all over the circumpolar Arctic. Greening in the adjacent boreal areas is more pronounced in Eurasia than in North America. Read full article at link above.