Vegetation change has been observed across Arctic and boreal regions. Studies have often documented large-scale greening trends (i.e. increased plant productivity or measured “greenness”) but they have also identified areas of browning (decreased productivity) or shifts between greening and browning over varying spatial extents and time periods. At the same time, there are large portions of these ecosystems that have not exhibited measurable trends in greening or browning. These findings have fueled many questions about observed trends and identified drivers, implications of vegetation change, and methods and tools for evaluating changes and their uncertainties.
The Polar Research Board, in collaboration with the Board on Life Sciences of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, convened a workshop in December 2018 to address these questions and discuss opportunities to advance understanding of greening and browning at northern latitudes. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.
A public webinar summarizing the workshop proceedings will be held on May 14 at 3:00 pm EDT. Please register to participate below.