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Title Climate Effects of Global Land Cover Change
Creator/Author Gibbard, S G ; Caldeira, K ; Bala, G ; Phillips, T ; Wickett, M
Publication Date2005 Aug 24
OSTI IdentifierOSTI ID: 877856
Report Number(s)UCRL-JRNL-215046
DOE Contract NumberW-7405-ENG-48
Other Number(s)Journal ID: ISSN 0094-8276; GPRLAJ; TRN: US200608%%592
Resource TypeJournal Article
Resource RelationJournal Name: Geophysical Research Letters; Journal Volume: 32
Research OrgLawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA
Sponsoring OrgUSDOE
Subject54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; 58 GEOSCIENCES; ALBEDO; CARBON; CLIMATES; FORESTS; GENERAL CIRCULATION MODELS; GREENHOUSE EFFECT; HEATING; MITIGATION; PLANTS; RANGELANDS; STORAGE; TREES
Description/AbstractThere are two competing effects of global land cover change on climate: an albedo effect which leads to heating when changing from grass/croplands to forest, and an evapotranspiration effect which tends to produce cooling. It is not clear which effect would dominate in a global land cover change scenario. We have performed coupled land/ocean/atmosphere simulations of global land cover change using the NCAR CAM3 atmospheric general circulation model. We find that replacement of current vegetation by trees on a global basis would lead to a global annual mean warming of 1.6 C, nearly 75% of the warming produced under a doubled CO{sub 2} concentration, while global replacement by grasslands would result in a cooling of 0.4 C. These results suggest that more research is necessary before forest carbon storage should be deployed as a mitigation strategy for global warming. In particular, high latitude forests probably have a net warming effect on the Earth's climate.
Country of PublicationUnited States
LanguageEnglish
FormatMedium: ED; Size: PDF-file: 18 pages; size: 0.2 Mbytes
System Entry Date2008 Feb 05

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