{"id":13937,"date":"2022-06-02T20:01:55","date_gmt":"2022-06-02T18:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciencefocus.com\/?p=120885"},"modified":"2022-06-02T20:23:10","modified_gmt":"2022-06-02T18:23:10","slug":"climate-change-is-turning-the-european-alps-from-white-to-green","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/rss_feed\/climate-change-is-turning-the-european-alps-from-white-to-green\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate change is turning the European Alps from white to green"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Amy Barrett\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 02 June 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Snow in the European Alps is melting and invasive plant species are outcompeting native Alpine plants, satellite imagery has shown. Both findings will reinforce climate change, say scientists.<\/p>\n

The changes noticed in a new study, which uses satellite data from 1984 to 2021, show that as much as 77 per cent of the Alps has experienced greening, where areas with previously low vegetation have suddenly seen a boom in plant growth.<\/p>\n

While the new plants do take a small amount of carbon out of the atmosphere by photosynthesis, scientists say the greening has a much bigger negative effect on climate change, as less of the Sun\u2019s light will be reflected away from the Earth meaning the planet will get warmer.<\/p>\n

The Alps are expected to see a reduction in snow mass of up to 25 per cent<\/a> in the next 10-30 years, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change\u2019s 2019 report. As the snow melts, there will be more rock falls and landslides, which could have devastating consequences.<\/p>\n

The new study shows that the Alps is experiencing snow cover recession that can already be seen from space, which the authors warn will only get worse as time goes on.<\/p>\n