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Arctic Report Card

green turns brown
Scientists (and other humans and animals) worry that Arctic sedges, grasses and other vegetation have gone from a verdant green to a brown in the last several years....read more updates, article in climate news network. 
In Flight of the Goose, scientist Leif frets over green sedge of salt marsh turning brown and green again as he studies the effect of oil spills on bird habitat - his dilemma is based on my research in my youth, working for Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Assessment Program on Arctic Circle Beach near Kotzebue. 
Oh, and also, scientists are unhappy to find that methane is released a LOT in the dead of winter in the Arctic, from a layer of rotting plants in permafrost held in suspension.