--- title: Climate Change: How Reindeer Could Help Slow Arctic Warming description: Reindeer's grazing in the Arctic habit may help slow climate change canonical: https://time.com/4616848/reindeer-arctic-climate-change-global-warming/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-22T19:23:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:26:57.089Z article:section: Science og:title: How Reindeer Could Help Slow Climate Change in the Arctic og:description: The region could use help as soon as possible og:url: https://time.com/4616848/reindeer-arctic-climate-change-global-warming/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3960e9ade92c195/6988b3d9656a3f39ccbce3b3/arctic-reindeer-grazing-climate-change.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: arctic reindeer grazing climate change og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Reindeer Could Help Slow Climate Change in the Arctic twitter:description: The region could use help as soon as possible twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3960e9ade92c195/6988b3d9656a3f39ccbce3b3/arctic-reindeer-grazing-climate-change.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Reindeer Could Help Slow Climate Change in the Arctic  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Dec 22, 2016 7:23 PM UTC  Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) grazing on the tundra in Arctic Norway Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) grazing on the tundra in Arctic NorwayMichael Nolan—Getty Images/Publisher Mix RF  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Dec 22, 2016 7:23 PM UTC Reindeer’s grazing in the [Arctic](http://time.com/4600091/arctic-climate-change/) habit may help slow climate change, according to new [research](http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa5128/meta;jsessionid=B85560A60052437B56E218DA00FDDA8E.c2.iopscience.cld.iop.org). The study, published in the journal _Environmental Research Letters,_ focuses on a concept called surface albedo, a measure of the whiteness of a given surface. More sunlight is reflected into space with a higher surface albedo. [Reindeer](http://time.com/4597865/climate-change-is-starving-north-pole-reindeer/) help increase that measure by reducing the prominence of shrubs or eliminating them entirely. The results are small in the scheme of the entire globe, but they can play a significant role in that specific region, according to the research. And relief from global warming could not come soon enough for the Arctic. The region has experienced [temperatures](http://time.com/4616573/climate-change-arctic-temperatures/?xid=homepage) significantly above the 20th century average in the several years, far outpacing the speed of global warming more broadly. Reindeer have actually increased in population in the North Pole while reducing the average size of a member of the species, according to different [study](http://time.com/4597865/climate-change-is-starving-north-pole-reindeer/) from earlier this month. Climate change is also thought to be the culprit behind that phenomenon. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4616848/reindeer-arctic-climate-change-global-warming/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4616848/reindeer-arctic-climate-change-global-warming/"},"headline":"How Reindeer Could Help Slow Climate Change in the Arctic","datePublished":"2016-12-22T19:23:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:26:57.089Z","description":"The region could use help as soon as possible","url":"https://time.com/4616848/reindeer-arctic-climate-change-global-warming/","keywords":["climate change","animals","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3960e9ade92c195/6988b3d9656a3f39ccbce3b3/arctic-reindeer-grazing-climate-change.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3960e9ade92c195/6988b3d9656a3f39ccbce3b3/arctic-reindeer-grazing-climate-change.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"arctic reindeer grazing climate change","caption":"arctic reindeer grazing climate change","creditText":"Michael Nolan—Getty Images/Publisher Mix RF","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/climate-change/","name":"climate change"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4616848/reindeer-arctic-climate-change-global-warming/","name":"How Reindeer Could Help Slow Climate Change in the Arctic"}}]}] ```