Credits: Social Media
What does ‘flowers are blooming in Antarctica’ mean, and why is it bad?
The phrase flowers are blooming in Antarctica is catching on social media, but what meaning does the climate-change-related phrase actually have?
Usually, the arrival of Springtime flowers is something to celebrate. But in an environment as desolate and icy as Antarctica, its quite the opposite. In fact, scientists say its one of the worst omens the planet can give us.�
What does it mean?
Despite having a very real-world explanation, the phrase itself is slowly becoming something of a social media phrase. It is seemingly being used to describe instances where you have a bad feeling, or something negative is about to happen.
The ominous words are starting to appear on almost every social media platform, with TikTok, Twitter and Instagram being the most popular. Often, people will just post the words with no further explanation.
Where does the phrase come from?
TOP TIP: How to do TikToks Born In trend and represent your birth country with flag emojis
Last year, Nicoletta Cannone, from the University of Insubria, published a study after her team conducted research on the South Orkney Islands, from 2009 to 2019. Looking at the locations two native plants, they found the island was more dense in plant life. Shockingly, they also discovered that the plants were growing faster and faster each year.
One plant, the Antarctic hair grass, grew as much between 2009 and 2019 as it had from 1960 to 2009! Similarly, Antarctic pearlwort had grown five times faster over the same period.�
The most novel feature of this is not the idea that something is growing faster. Its that we think were starting to see what is almost like a step change or a tipping point, said Peter Convey.�
If we extrapolate what we observed on Signy Island to other sites in Antarctica, a similar process can also occur, Cannone also explained. This means that the Antarctic landscape and biodiversity could change rapidly.
