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Observed increase in local cooling effect of deforestation at higher latitudes.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Lee, X; Goulden, ML; Hollinger, DY; Barr, A; Black, TA; Bohrer, G; Bracho, R; Drake, B; Goldstein, A; Gu, L; Katul, G; Kolb, T; Law, BE ...
Published in: Nature
November 2011

Deforestation in mid- to high latitudes is hypothesized to have the potential to cool the Earth's surface by altering biophysical processes. In climate models of continental-scale land clearing, the cooling is triggered by increases in surface albedo and is reinforced by a land albedo-sea ice feedback. This feedback is crucial in the model predictions; without it other biophysical processes may overwhelm the albedo effect to generate warming instead. Ongoing land-use activities, such as land management for climate mitigation, are occurring at local scales (hectares) presumably too small to generate the feedback, and it is not known whether the intrinsic biophysical mechanism on its own can change the surface temperature in a consistent manner. Nor has the effect of deforestation on climate been demonstrated over large areas from direct observations. Here we show that surface air temperature is lower in open land than in nearby forested land. The effect is 0.85 ± 0.44 K (mean ± one standard deviation) northwards of 45° N and 0.21 ± 0.53 K southwards. Below 35° N there is weak evidence that deforestation leads to warming. Results are based on comparisons of temperature at forested eddy covariance towers in the USA and Canada and, as a proxy for small areas of cleared land, nearby surface weather stations. Night-time temperature changes unrelated to changes in surface albedo are an important contributor to the overall cooling effect. The observed latitudinal dependence is consistent with theoretical expectation of changes in energy loss from convection and radiation across latitudes in both the daytime and night-time phase of the diurnal cycle, the latter of which remains uncertain in climate models.

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Published In

Nature

DOI

EISSN

1476-4687

ISSN

0028-0836

Publication Date

November 2011

Volume

479

Issue

7373

Start / End Page

384 / 387

Related Subject Headings

  • United States
  • Trees
  • Temperature
  • Seasons
  • General Science & Technology
  • Forestry
  • Conservation of Natural Resources
  • Climate
  • Canada
  • Biophysical Phenomena
 

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Lee, X., Goulden, M. L., Hollinger, D. Y., Barr, A., Black, T. A., Bohrer, G., … Zhao, L. (2011). Observed increase in local cooling effect of deforestation at higher latitudes. Nature, 479(7373), 384–387. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10588
Lee, Xuhui, Michael L. Goulden, David Y. Hollinger, Alan Barr, T Andrew Black, Gil Bohrer, Rosvel Bracho, et al. “Observed increase in local cooling effect of deforestation at higher latitudes.Nature 479, no. 7373 (November 2011): 384–87. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10588.
Lee X, Goulden ML, Hollinger DY, Barr A, Black TA, Bohrer G, et al. Observed increase in local cooling effect of deforestation at higher latitudes. Nature. 2011 Nov;479(7373):384–7.
Lee, Xuhui, et al. “Observed increase in local cooling effect of deforestation at higher latitudes.Nature, vol. 479, no. 7373, Nov. 2011, pp. 384–87. Epmc, doi:10.1038/nature10588.
Lee X, Goulden ML, Hollinger DY, Barr A, Black TA, Bohrer G, Bracho R, Drake B, Goldstein A, Gu L, Katul G, Kolb T, Law BE, Margolis H, Meyers T, Monson R, Munger W, Oren R, Paw U KT, Richardson AD, Schmid HP, Staebler R, Wofsy S, Zhao L. Observed increase in local cooling effect of deforestation at higher latitudes. Nature. 2011 Nov;479(7373):384–387.
Journal cover image

Published In

Nature

DOI

EISSN

1476-4687

ISSN

0028-0836

Publication Date

November 2011

Volume

479

Issue

7373

Start / End Page

384 / 387

Related Subject Headings

  • United States
  • Trees
  • Temperature
  • Seasons
  • General Science & Technology
  • Forestry
  • Conservation of Natural Resources
  • Climate
  • Canada
  • Biophysical Phenomena