😲 Do you know that Antarctica was a rainforest 90 million years ago? It was such a forest where it rained continuously. Here trees, grass, and all kinds of animals were living. It was a complete ecosystem. It was the time when dinosaurs roamed the planet. But the Antarctica we know today is covered by snow. Then how do we know that Antarctica was once a forest? One of the easiest ways is the discovery of fossils. Fossils of both animals and plants like that of dinosaurs and various plants have been found. When these fossils were studied, such plants were discovered that need excessive water to grow and are mostly found in various forests.
Polar regions of the planet seem beyond our reach, but they are not beyond our influence. Our activities are changing these frozen worlds, and these changes do just not affect the poles but the entire planet. Antarctica, located at the southern end of our planet, is the coldest place on Earth. It has been frozen for 30 million years, and In its center, the ice is over four kilometers thick. Entire mountain ranges lie buried beneath this ice. The harsh cold leads to the freezing of 19 million square kilometers of ocean each winter, more than doubling the size of the ice cap. However, when spring arrives, the sea ice melts, and life returns to the continent's shores. In fact, there is a greater variety of living creatures here than in any other part of Antarctica.
Johann P. Klages works at the Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Germany. In 2017, he went to Antarctica to conduct an experiment. He drilled 30 meters deep into the ocean where he discovered the roots of 29 plants buried from the distant past. Klages scanned the roots and performed CT Scans to study them in detail. He found water and the air of that time along with its composition. Pollen and spores were also present which helped in identifying what types of trees and plants existed at that time. However, the amount of Carbon was significant when he studied gas concentrations that were trapped. Carbon excess hits to high temperature of the Earth's atmosphere at that time. Antarctica was located adjacent to Australia in ancient pictures but it gradually separated and moved towards the South Pole. Johann P. Klages also discovered that 150 million years ago, Antarctica was extremely hot. The average temperature of oceans was 35 degrees Celsius. Now, the average temperature of the oceans is 17 degrees Celsius. The temperature was high at that time and therefore, Antarctica was completely covered in forest.
Seventy-five million-year-old pieces of charcoal were discovered during research conducted by a Brazilian research organization. This suggests that forests once existed where wildfires frequently occurred, similar to the wildfires that occur in Canadian forests.
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| Whales in Antarctica |
Today, there is a general perception that Antarctica is covered in snow. Tom Roland, a researcher from the University of Exeter in the UK, is studying vegetation in Antarctica because of Polar Amplification. Polar amplification is a phenomenon where the polar regions warm faster than other parts of the world. Scientific evidence indicates that global warming is having a more significant impact on the polar regions, both North and South compared to other regions. There are various reasons. One of the most important reasons is the excessive amount of Carbon Dioxide trapped beneath the snow. When the snow melts, this carbon dioxide is released into the air, which increases the atmospheric temperature. Carbon dioxide absorbs heat from the Sun by taking in infrared radiation and then re-emitting it in all directions melting more snow and the process continues. Another reason is the barren land exposed to the Sun. When the snow melts, more land becomes exposed to the sun. As land absorbs more heat compared to the snow. Therefore, more land leads to higher temperatures, and higher temperatures cause more snow to melt. This creates a continuous cycle. As a result, the temperature in the Arctic and Antarctica is increasing faster.
Vegetation in Antarctica has increased by 30 percent, and this growth is monitored using satellites. When sunlight reaches the plants, they absorb almost all of the light except for two types: green light, which is why they appear green, and infrared light. Satellites can detect the amount of near-infrared or infrared rays, which helps determine the extent of vegetation in these regions. The area monitored by satellite was 522,000 square kilometers in 1986, with less than 1 square kilometer of that area considered green. However, when satellite images were processed in 2023, the green area had increased to 1,200 square kilometers. This region has become lush and green, featuring carpeted grass, fungi, and various other plants. Notably, one part of Antarctica is turning green at a faster rate; this area falls under British territory.
Antarctica, the coldest and most isolated continent on Earth, is undergoing profound changes due to climate change, human activity, and evolving global conditions. Global warming is transforming Antarctica into a land that could potentially support rainforests or even human habitation. As a result of climate change, some areas may become uninhabitable, forcing people to migrate in the future. It’s possible that our children could be living in a very different Antarctica. Antarctica’s transformation serves as both a warning and an opportunity for humanity to address global environmental issues. Research and conservation efforts remain crucial to mitigating its impacts on the planet.