Satellite images: Beavers are changing the landscape of the Arctic

Nothing changes the landscape as much as humans.
But a surprising candidate is now competing with us: the beaver.
This is shown by satellite images.
“There aren’t many animals whose footprints you can see from space,” said Ken Tape, an ecologist at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks.
The researcher is investigating the effects of the growing beaver population in Alaska and has published the first results in the journal “Scientific Reports”.
Background: Due to climate change, the arctic tundra in Alaska is becoming warmer and thus interesting as a habitat for the beaver.
The west coast of Alaska seems particularly affected. For example, the Seward Peninsula.
While hardly any animals lived here before 1980, the number of rodents continues to rise, with visible effects.
Before the animals arrived, this river was still a thin stream. Today, almost 40 years later, the course is dotted with ponds.
These are dammed up by beaver dams, marked here in pink.
Images from the United States Meteorological and Oceanographic Administration show a similar trend, on another river, between 2003 and 2016.
These images show a lake that has more than doubled in size in just 17 years. The reason is a beaver dam, marked here in red.
The water in standing water is warmer than in flowing water. This should attract new species of fish and waterfowl, which will benefit biodiversity.
On the other hand, the ponds also cause a general increase in temperature in the region.
Problematic: Alaska is 85 percent covered by permafrost, which is now threatening to melt. This in turn could accelerate climate change.
So the beavers are about to amplify the chain reaction that humans have set in motion.