A Greener Arctic is Predicted to be the New Normal

Most commonly thought of with the effects of global warming on the arctic is the melting of sea ice and the increasing amount of open water. One of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) satellites collects images of the surface of the Earth, including the Arctic. The sensors collect visible and near infrared sunlight to measure the density of vegetation. NOAA recently published their 2013 Arctic Report Card and explained that the Arctic's vegetation is changing. 

NOAA has collected these measurements from 1982 to 2012 from around the Arctic, and almost the entire tundra has grown greener with only a few exceptions, like Western Alaska. 

The vegetation increase and productivity can be connected to greater summer warmth, snow cover decline (growing season has increased by nine days per decade since 1982), and atmospheric circulation pattern changes. 

In general, these new warmer conditions are resulting in a greener, less icy environment that is likely to be the new normal, which is visible to the average person through the expansion of of plants and shrubs across the tundra.