As the Arctic has warmed over the past three decades, satellites reveal it has also grown greener overall. But in recent years, the tundra appears to be “browning down.”
Since observations began in 1982, Arctic-wide tundra vegetation productivity has increased. In North America, the rate of greening has accelerated since 2005.
A plant is a sophisticated climate-observing device. These satellite maps of the central and southern Great Plains during the week of April 8, 2012, and 2013 show how plants in the heart of the U.S. winter wheat croplands "measured" dramatically different climate conditions this spring than last.