The Antarctic is warming and native vascular plants are spreading. But the warming could invite invasive species and disrupt the unique ecosystem.
The global climate is warming, and Earth’s polar regions are feeling the effects. A new study of the South Orkney Islands shows that the region has warmed significantly since the 1950s. The rise in warming in the South Orkneys exceeds the overall global warming.The South Orkney Islands lie about 600 km northeast of the Antarctica Peninsula’s tip. Britain and Argentina both lay claim to the group of islands.
While the South Orkneys are separated from Antarctica by about 600 km, they’re still in a polar climate. About 90% of the islands were glaciated as of 2009, and the summers are very short and very cold. Ice-covered seas surround the South Orkneys seas from late April to November. “This is the first evidence in Antarctica for accelerated ecosystem responses to climate warming, confirming similar observations in the Northern Hemisphere.”The warming hasn’t been a continuous trend. There was one period of pronounced cooling in the years since the study began. The study points out that “… a short but intense cooling occurred from the Antarctic Peninsula to the South Orkney Islands…” between 1999 and 2016.
This figure from the study shows the Summer Air Temperature at Signy Island. Blue dots are SAT between 1960 and 2011, and orange dots are SAT between 2012 and 2018. Image Credit: Cannone et al. 2022.