The new climate sensitivity map is trading the traditional blue with a more fashionable green.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – According to the Biology department at the Bergen University, Earth will have a climate sensitivity map. The method that will be used to identify the more sensitive areas is called the VSI (Index of Vegetation Sensitivity).
Earth will have a climate sensitivity map that will allow scientists to better understand the biology behind areas that suffer the most because of sudden climate changes.
By analyzing satellite images for 14 years, the team or researchers from Bergen University managed to create a new map of the Earth. And it seems that green is the new blue when it comes to Earth’s climate change sensible spots.
The team lead by Alistair Seddon, a professor at the Biology department from the Bergen University managed to identify the vegetation productivity triggers. In order to do so, they used monthly timescales applied to the satellite imagery.
According to the paper that they published in Nature on-line journal, there are plenty of regions on Earth that are ecologically sensitive. For example the tropical rainforest, the Arctic tundra, the Canadian tundra, certain steppe and prairie regions, worldwide alpine regions, the South American sylvan areas and a few parts of Australia.
With the aid of the VSI method, the researchers were able to map a climate change response in that area that was actually quantifiable.
Earth will have a climate sensitivity map that will also feature the reaction of sensitive areas to short-term temperature or climate anomalies. For example a significant drop in the average December temperature or a serious heat spike in the middle of the summer. Or vice-versa.
By creating the climate sensitivity map and the VSI method, scientists will now have a more accurate evaluating and monitoring system. They will be able to track the condition and eventual changes in all of the ecosystems in the world.
The variables that were quantified using the Index of Vegetation Sensitivity are temperature, cloudiness and water availability. All of these elements are crucial to the vegetation productivity in a certain area.
The method devised by the Bergen University team of scientists can be of help to climate researchers. By using the VSI, they could analyze any anomalies that appear in the climate of a certain ecosystem and the impact that these strange occurrences have on the ecosystem itself.
Earth will have a climate sensitivity map and this tool will only help the climate researchers convince the world of the devastating effects that global warming has on different ecosystems around the world.
Image source: www.wikimedia.org
John Birks
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