The blossoming of the many cherry trees painted New York in magnificent shades of pink and white, the beauty of which is hard to overstate. However, the increase in temperatures in recent years causes the flowering to come earlier and earlier, until the continued existence of the trees is in danger
Dr. Neta Lipkin, Angle - news agency for science and the environment
I have been living in New York for a whole year now, and during this time I felt, perhaps for the first time in my life, the meaning of the seasons. I experienced the summer, which is usually characterized by heat and humidity along with quite a few rainy days (and even storms and floods, like the ones the city experienced last August), and during which the city is completely covered in green and colorful foliage. the autumn, on Its strong casting colors, and the cold that increases and changes the landscape. and the long, leafless, windswept, frozen and snowy winter. Now, there is no greater joy than seeing the world come alive again with the coming of spring.
The first to herald the arrival of spring in New York City are the cherry trees, for their spectacular and short bloom. It is hard to underestimate the beauty of this bloom. As a perfect counterpoint to the gray colors that dominated the landscape during the winter months, the cherry sprouts and spreads the abundance of its pink and white colors. The flowers bloom before the trees put on their leaves, so you can be amazed by the full splendor of the tree. This is an unparalleled "color explosion" to herald the arrival of spring.
The first cherry trees arrived in New York in 1912, when the Japanese government gave to the city as a gift 2,000 of them. according to Department the parks, you can find 6,700 cherry trees in the city parks of New York, and more than 34 thousand more scattered throughout the city - with the highest concentration being in Queens, which includes more than 15 thousand of them. Actually, the cherry trees Represent כ-5 percent From all the street trees in New York City.
There are more than 100 varieties of ornamental cherry trees, approxThe three Common secrets In New York parks, they are the Okame, which are usually the first to bloom, around the last two weeks of March, the Yoshino, which bloom a little later, and the Kwanzan, which begin to bloom in April.
A rash that resembles a hockey stick
However, not everything is rosy in the cherry blossoms. In recent years there has been an alarming trend of an advance in the peak flowering times of the trees. For example, in 2021, the cherry blossom peak in the Kyoto region of Japan was the earliest 1,200 years ago, and the average blooming date was brought forward from April 17 in 1850 to around April 5 today. This introduction is closely related to rising temperatures: since 1850, the average temperature in Kyoto has risen by about 3 degrees Celsius. The phenomenon is not limited to Japan, andaccording to Studies, in the last 30 years, a similar trend of advancing the boom has also been recorded in Washington, the capital of the USA.
The change in flowering times does not only characterize the cherries, and many plants are blooming today even a month earlier from before. Early flowering is not only a disturbing sign of global warming and the climate crisis - it also bodes ill for the trees themselves, due to the fear of a mismatch between the flowering times and the activity periods of the pollinators that feed on them. For example, bees are the main pollinator of the cherry trees - and if they bloom too early, when there are not enough active bees, this means poor pollination for the trees, therefore harming their prosperity in the future. In addition, in order to bloom properly, the sensitive cherry trees need a whole month of cool weather (below 5 degrees Celsius), so the rise in temperatures can damage their flowering.
The early flowering trend of the cherry trees is reminiscent of the global temperature rise trend due to the climate crisis. Prof. Michael Mann, a climate expert from the University of Pennsylvania, called this trend "מקל The hockey": According to him, the temperatures on Earth have been stable for the last 2,000 years - but in the 200 years that have passed since the beginning of the industrial revolution, you can see a steep jump in the rise in temperatures (reminiscent of the shape of a hockey stick), and at the same time a jump in the cherry blossom dates.
So, in many ways, the peak of the cherry blossoms is also husband value multi for the study of the climate crisis, because of its length and the strong sensitivity of the bloom to spring temperatures.
Another factor that affects the advance of the cherry blossom is an increased effect of the phenomenon The urban heat island, in which it is much hotter inside the cities than outside them. This phenomenon has worsened in recent centuries due to the increased urbanization of the environment.
The cherry blossom as a warning sign
recently Published by the United Nations team of climate scientists דו"ח Comprehensive according to which the rate of technological development and the policy measures designed to deal with the climate crisis have so far failed to change the trend of growth in greenhouse gas emissions. This fact is troubling in itself, but it means, among other things, that we are expected to be more exposed and vulnerable to the great risks that the climate crisis poses to the world. If we do not act soon, and take global multi-governmental steps to reduce emissions and change consumption habits, we are expected to face a climate catastrophe.
In the UN report, many dangers were covered, but no references to the cherry blossoms were found in it. It may be a small niche, but it is a warning sign that we must pay attention to. Beyond that, in the intense world in which we all live, enjoying nature and blossoming, biodiversity and urban nature are also of great importance. This year, blooming and thriving cherry trees filled the whole of New York already in the first days of April. It is to be hoped that the warming and warming trend will stop there, so that we will be able to enjoy the spectacular bloom in the future as well.
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