Study: Arctic Spring Occurring Earlier

An international team led by Danish scientists has found Arctic spring conditions are occurring weeks earlier than they did a decade ago.

The finding offers an early warning of things to come across the rest of the planet if global warming continues, the researchers said.

Our study confirms what many people already think — that the seasons are changing and it is not just one or two warm years, but a strong trend seen over a decade, said Toke Hoye of the National Environmental Research Institute at the University of Aarhus.

The scientists discovered the flowering dates in six plant species, median emergence dates of 12 arthropod species, and clutch initiation dates in three species of birds have advanced, in some cases, by more than 30 days during the last decade.

The average advancement across all time series was 14.5 days per decade, the researchers said.

The team included scientists from the University of Aarhus, the University of Copenhagen, and Pennsylvania State University.

The study is reported in the journal Current Biology.