NASA Study Shows Dramatic Climactic Changes in Northern Hemisphere

Climate change, global warming, call it what you will (although technically climate change is the correct term), it is a topic that is highly controversial and potentially significant to every single one of us. The latest NASA funded study of records about the last 30 years has shown some quite significant changes for the Northern Hemisphere.

The international team of researchers consisting of leading academics and scientists examined changes in data about temperatures and vegetation growth for the past 30 years for the Northern Hemisphere. The results show that Northern Latitudes now resemble warmer environments 4 to 6 degrees further south (compared to 1980 levels). Vegetation changes in the Northern Hemisphere are particularly significant since the Northern Hemisphere has the vast majority of land mass and thus the vast majority of the world’s vegetation.

“Higher northern latitudes are getting warmer, Arctic sea ice and the duration of snow cover are diminishing, the growing season is getting longer and plants are growing more,” said Ranga Myneni of Boston University’s Department of Earth and Environment. “In the north’s Arctic and boreal areas, the characteristics of the seasons are changing, leading to great disruptions for plants and related ecosystems.”

The satellite data from NASA’s advance radiometers and moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometers (yes that is one hell of a mouthful) between 1982 and 2011 was analysed revealing these significant climactic shifts. One of the NASA staff likened this change to moving Winnipeg, Manitoba to Minneapolis-Saint Paul in only 30 years. By the end of the century the NASA scientists predict a shift of climate 20 degrees further south compared to the current 4-6 degrees (compared to 1980 levels). These findings were published in the Nature Climate Change Journal if you’d like to go and find out more.

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