Study Shows More Shrubbery in a Warming World

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/shrub-spread.html

Study Shows More Shrubbery in a Warming World

12.08.11

Scientists have used satellite data from NASA-built Landsat missions to confirm that more than 20 years of warming temperatures in northern Quebec, Canada, have resulted in an increase in the amount and extent of shrubs and grasses.

Comparison of area in Northern Quebec showing increased vegetation between 1986 and 2004. In this false-color Landsat image, more red color indicates more vegetation. Credit: Jeff Masek

"For the first time, we've been able to map this change in detail, and it's because of the spatial resolution and length-of-record that you can get with Landsat," says Jeff Masek, the program's project scientist. He's based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

Masek and his co-authors will present their study at the American Geophysical Meeting in San Francisco on Friday, Dec. 9.

The study, focusing on Quebec, is one of the first to present a detailed view of how warmer temperatures are influencing plant distribution and density in northern areas of North America.

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[JDPriestly]

1. Kicked!

[Liberal Veteran]

2. That should make the Knights who say "Ni!" very happy.

[NickB79]

3. And the increase in shrubbery decreases albedo, causing more warming

So many positive feedbacks, all kicking in at once. We're so far past the tipping point for global warming, it's not even funny.

[dtexdem]

4. Should please the knights who say "ni."

Peng.