Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 111, Issue 8, Pages 2915-2919Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1315126111
Keywords
vegetation feedback; climate change mitigation; plantation effects; surface cooling
Categories
Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [41125004]
- National Basic Research Program of China [2013CB956303]
- National Youth Top-notch Talent Support Program in China
- Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection Grant [201209031]
- NASA Earth Science Division
- National Science Foundation [NSF AGS-1247137]
- Div Atmospheric & Geospace Sciences
- Directorate For Geosciences [1247137] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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China has the largest afforested area in the world (similar to 62 million hectares in 2008), and these forests are carbon sinks. The climatic effect of these new forests depends on how radiant and turbulent energy fluxes over these plantations modify surface temperature. For instance, a lower albedo may cause warming, which negates the climatic benefits of carbon sequestration. Here, we used satellite measurements of land surface temperature (LST) from planted forests and adjacent grasslands or croplands in China to understand how afforestation affects LST. Afforestation is found to decrease daytime LST by about 1.1 +/- 0.5 degrees C (mean +/- 1 SD) and to increase nighttime LST by about 0.2 +/- 0.5 degrees C, on average. The observed daytime cooling is a result of increased evapotranspiration. The nighttime warming is found to increase with latitude and decrease with average rainfall. Afforestation in dry regions therefore leads to net warming, as daytime cooling is offset by nighttime warming. Thus, it is necessary to carefully consider where to plant trees to realize potential climatic benefits in future afforestation projects.
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