Arctic greening associated with lengthening growing seasons in Northern Alaska
Quick Summary
- Director Susan Ustin co-authors this study on Arctic greening and investigates why this phenomenon is occurring.
Authors: Arndt, K.A., M J Santos, S Ustin, S J Davidson, D Stow, W C Oechel, T T P Tran, B Graybill and D Zona
This study was conducted to better understand the phenomenon of arctic greening that is being observed. The focus of this study is Northern Alaska, and using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and satellite imagery to quantify and map greening, it was found that plant composition in these arctic regions are not changing. Rather, this greening effect is occurring due to a longer growing season, especially in wetter areas of the region where plants respond much faster to the warming temperatures creating this longer growing season.