Local temperature response to land cover and management change driven by non-radiative processes

Ryan M. Bright (), Edouard Davin, Thomas O’Halloran, Julia Pongratz, Kaiguang Zhao and Alessandro Cescatti
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Ryan M. Bright: The Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research
Edouard Davin: Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science
Thomas O’Halloran: Clemson University
Julia Pongratz: Max Planck Institute for Meteorology
Kaiguang Zhao: School of Environment and Natural Resources, OARDC, The Ohio State University
Alessandro Cescatti: European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Directorate for Sustainable Resources

Nature Climate Change, 2017, vol. 7, issue 4, 296-302

Abstract: Abstract Following a land cover and land management change (LCMC), local surface temperature responds to both a change in available energy and a change in the way energy is redistributed by various non-radiative mechanisms. However, the extent to which non-radiative mechanisms contribute to the local direct temperature response for different types of LCMC across the world remains uncertain. Here, we combine extensive records of remote sensing and in situ observation to show that non-radiative mechanisms dominate the local response in most regions for eight of nine common LCMC perturbations. We find that forest cover gains lead to an annual cooling in all regions south of the upper conterminous United States, northern Europe, and Siberia—reinforcing the attractiveness of re-/afforestation as a local mitigation and adaptation measure in these regions. Our results affirm the importance of accounting for non-radiative mechanisms when evaluating local land-based mitigation or adaptation policies.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/nclimate3250

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