Land cover changes across Greenland dominated by a doubling of vegetation in three decades
Abstract Land cover responses to climate change must be quantified for understanding Arctic climate, managing Arctic water resources, maintaining the health and livelihoods of Arctic societies and for sustainable economic development. This need is especially pressing in Greenland, where climate chan...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2024-02-01
|
| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-52124-1 |
| _version_ | 1797275218158288896 |
|---|---|
| author | Michael Grimes Jonathan L. Carrivick Mark W. Smith Alexis J. Comber |
| author_facet | Michael Grimes Jonathan L. Carrivick Mark W. Smith Alexis J. Comber |
| author_sort | Michael Grimes |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Land cover responses to climate change must be quantified for understanding Arctic climate, managing Arctic water resources, maintaining the health and livelihoods of Arctic societies and for sustainable economic development. This need is especially pressing in Greenland, where climate changes are amongst the most pronounced of anywhere in the Arctic. Ice loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet and from glaciers and ice caps has increased since the 1980s and consequently the proglacial parts of Greenland have expanded rapidly. Here we determine proglacial land cover changes at 30 m spatial resolution across Greenland during the last three decades. Besides the vastly decreased ice cover (− 28,707 km2 ± 9767 km2), we find a doubling in total areal coverage of vegetation (111% ± 13%), a quadrupling in wetlands coverage (380% ± 29%), increased meltwater (15% ± 15%), decreased bare bedrock (− 16% ± 4%) and increased coverage of fine unconsolidated sediment (4% ± 13%). We identify that land cover change is strongly associated with the difference in the number of positive degree days, especially above 6 °C between the 1980s and the present day. Contrastingly, absolute temperature increase has a negligible association with land cover change. We explain that these land cover changes represent local rapid and intense geomorphological activity that has profound consequences for land surface albedo, greenhouse gas emissions, landscape stability and sediment delivery, and biogeochemical processes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T15:10:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8d670b900fe84166bbf2a773feb20a1b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T15:10:14Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-8d670b900fe84166bbf2a773feb20a1b2024-03-05T18:41:57ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222024-02-0114111310.1038/s41598-024-52124-1Land cover changes across Greenland dominated by a doubling of vegetation in three decadesMichael Grimes0Jonathan L. Carrivick1Mark W. Smith2Alexis J. Comber3School of Geography and Water@Leeds, University of LeedsSchool of Geography and Water@Leeds, University of LeedsSchool of Geography and Water@Leeds, University of LeedsSchool of Geography and Water@Leeds, University of LeedsAbstract Land cover responses to climate change must be quantified for understanding Arctic climate, managing Arctic water resources, maintaining the health and livelihoods of Arctic societies and for sustainable economic development. This need is especially pressing in Greenland, where climate changes are amongst the most pronounced of anywhere in the Arctic. Ice loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet and from glaciers and ice caps has increased since the 1980s and consequently the proglacial parts of Greenland have expanded rapidly. Here we determine proglacial land cover changes at 30 m spatial resolution across Greenland during the last three decades. Besides the vastly decreased ice cover (− 28,707 km2 ± 9767 km2), we find a doubling in total areal coverage of vegetation (111% ± 13%), a quadrupling in wetlands coverage (380% ± 29%), increased meltwater (15% ± 15%), decreased bare bedrock (− 16% ± 4%) and increased coverage of fine unconsolidated sediment (4% ± 13%). We identify that land cover change is strongly associated with the difference in the number of positive degree days, especially above 6 °C between the 1980s and the present day. Contrastingly, absolute temperature increase has a negligible association with land cover change. We explain that these land cover changes represent local rapid and intense geomorphological activity that has profound consequences for land surface albedo, greenhouse gas emissions, landscape stability and sediment delivery, and biogeochemical processes.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-52124-1 |
| spellingShingle | Michael Grimes Jonathan L. Carrivick Mark W. Smith Alexis J. Comber Land cover changes across Greenland dominated by a doubling of vegetation in three decades Scientific Reports |
| title | Land cover changes across Greenland dominated by a doubling of vegetation in three decades |
| title_full | Land cover changes across Greenland dominated by a doubling of vegetation in three decades |
| title_fullStr | Land cover changes across Greenland dominated by a doubling of vegetation in three decades |
| title_full_unstemmed | Land cover changes across Greenland dominated by a doubling of vegetation in three decades |
| title_short | Land cover changes across Greenland dominated by a doubling of vegetation in three decades |
| title_sort | land cover changes across greenland dominated by a doubling of vegetation in three decades |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-52124-1 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT michaelgrimes landcoverchangesacrossgreenlanddominatedbyadoublingofvegetationinthreedecades AT jonathanlcarrivick landcoverchangesacrossgreenlanddominatedbyadoublingofvegetationinthreedecades AT markwsmith landcoverchangesacrossgreenlanddominatedbyadoublingofvegetationinthreedecades AT alexisjcomber landcoverchangesacrossgreenlanddominatedbyadoublingofvegetationinthreedecades |