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- Title
Biophysical Effects of Afforestation on Land Surface Temperature in Guangdong Province, Southern China.
- Authors
Shen, Wenjuan; He, Jiaying; He, Tao; Hu, Xiangping; Tao, Xin; Huang, Chengquan
- Abstract
Developing effective climate mitigation strategies under global warming requires a comprehensive understanding of the biophysical mechanism of how afforestation affects the climate and environment. The planted forests in southern China are an essential carbon sink. However, the impacts of radiative and non‐radiative processes on land surface temperature caused by converting open land (i.e., grassland and cropland) and natural forests to planted forests remain unclear. We used satellite observations and intrinsic biophysical mechanism theory‐based energy balance models to estimate the biophysical impacts of potential afforestation of open land and natural forests on surface temperature from 2000 to 2010 in Guangdong Province, southern China. Results showed that afforestation of open land had a consistent net cooling effect. Due to the afforestation of natural forests, the modeled results revealed that afforestation among all conversion types had a net warming effect of 0.15 ± 0.5 K, which caused by the change in energy redistribution factor although uncertainty remains. While the most significant warming caused by converting natural forest to planted forests was also slightly affected by albedo. The afforestation's non‐radiative and radiative processes led to a slight warming of 0.143 ± 0.43 K and a cooling of −0.096 ± 0.19 K, respectively. The non‐radiative process dominates the effect of afforestation on the surface temperature, with the overall non‐radiative forcing index greater than 73% ± 0.59%. Our study highlights the need of protecting natural forests and provides a practical method for assessing the impacts of afforestation on the local climate and the effectiveness of climate mitigation efforts. Plain Language Summary: Afforestation is an important tool for mitigating climate change. However, the land cover change induced by afforestation may affect the land‐atmosphere balance of water and energy. Accurate estimation of surface temperature change in response to afforestation‐induced surface energy change is challenging. From 2000 to 2010, afforestation activities in southern China were frequent, resulting in a significant increase in carbon sinks. Yet, how these land‐use changes can affect the local climate is unclear. Here we prepared the high‐resolution land cover data and utilized satellite observations and a physical‐based method to estimate the impacts of afforestation on land surface temperature in southern China. This strategy can provide insights for designing rational afforestation policies in southern China and similar geographic areas. Key Points: The modeled land surface temperature due to afforestation had a net warming effectThe non‐radiative process mainly drives the effect of afforestation on local surface temperatureThe detailed distribution of afforestation and a precise energy balance model allow accurate evaluation of the temperature response
- Subjects
CHINA; GUANGDONG Sheng (China); AFFORESTATION; LAND surface temperature; FORESTS &; forestry; CARBON cycle; CLIMATE change mitigation; GRASSLANDS; LAND cover; SURFACE temperature
- Publication
Journal of Geophysical Research. Biogeosciences, 2022, Vol 127, Issue 8, p1
- ISSN
2169-8953
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1029/2022JG006913