Antarctic grass an ominous sign of how the world is warming

August 16, 2026 — 10:00am

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A few decades ago the prospect of icy Antarctica catching fire may have seemed like science fiction, and rather far-fetched science fiction at that.

It’s now a live option, according to Australian scientists who have found evidence of grass spreading across parts of Antarctica in response to human-induced climate change.

Science reporter Angus Dalton details the new research in The Sun-Herald today that shows invasive grasses are competing with native vegetation in the Antarctic region.

The findings “raise the prospect of a dramatically and rapidly changing Antarctic region, and in particular this prospect of fire”, said Professor Melodie McGeoch, an ecologist from Monash University who supervised the research.

Fires are already striking the Antarctic, Dalton reports. In January 2025, a wildfire burned 55 per cent of Amsterdam Island, an island of the French........

© The Sydney Morning Herald