The first color that comes to mind when thinking about Antarctica is a stark white, which makes sense, given the southernmost continent is generally buried in ice and snow. It has earned its reputation as “the white continent” thanks to harboring 90% of the world’s ice, concentrated in a 2.2 km (1.4 mi) thick layer.

Yet according to a recent study in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Science, Antarctica’s snow white status may soon be eclipsed by a different color: green.

This shifting dynamic is driven, of course, by climate change. Burning fossil fuels are jacking up the Earth’s average temperature, with this heating occurring at an even higher rate at both poles due to a process known as the ice-albedo effect. For decades Antarctica has reeled from a series of ocean heat waves and ice loss events. By analyzing archival photographs of the entire Antarctic continent taken by the NASA/USGS (United States Geological Survey) Landsat program from 1986 to 2021, the scientists behind the new study found the area of likely vegetation cover increased from 0.863 km2 (0.333 m2) in 1986 to 11.947 km2 (4.613 m2) in 2021.

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More ominously, the rate of greening has increased with each passing year. As the authors note, the rate of growth in green on the continent was 0.424 km2 (0.164 m2) per year between 2016 and 2021, a sharp uptick from the broader trend of 0.317 km2 (0.122 m2) per year during the entire study period.

While there has been ample previous research on related phenomena like ice melt and sea ice melt, the scientists behind the new paper bluntly declare that “this trend echoes a wider pattern of greening in cold-climate ecosystems in response to recent warming, suggesting future widespread changes in the Antarctic Peninsula’s terrestrial ecosystems and their long-term functioning.”

Melting icebergs are seen on Horseshoe Island as Turkish scientists conduct fieldwork on Horseshoe Island within 7th National Antarctic Science Expedition under the coordination of the Scientific and Technological........

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