Parts of icy Antarctica are turning green with plant life as the region is gripped by extreme heat events, new research shows, sparking concerns about the changing landscape on this vast continent.

Satellite imagery shows that vegetation on the peninsula grew from less than one square kilometres in 1986 to almost 12sqkm by 2021

Researchers used satellite data to assess how much the Antarctic Peninsula has been “greening” in response to climate change.

Regions of Antarctica are being rapidly “greened” by growing vegetation as our planet warms, suggests a new study. In the last 40 years, the area of the northern Antarctic Peninsula covered by greenery – mostly mosses – has increased by more than 1000%.