Impact of revised and potential future albedo estimates on CCSM3 simulations of growing‐season surface temperature fields for North America

Heilman, Warren E.; Hollinger, David Y.; Li, Xiuping; Bian, Xindi; Zhong, Shiyuan

doi:10.1002/asl.301

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Another possible explanation of the inconsistency may lie in the estimation of albedo. Estimation of albedo has not improved at that same pace as other model parameters (Alton, ; Heilman et al ., ; Hollinger et al ., ). Albedo is influenced by atmospheric conditions (cloudy versus clear), sun angle (season and time of day), soil colour and foliage nitrogen concentration (Bonan, ; Heilman et al ., ; Hollinger et al ., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Estimation of albedo has not improved at that same pace as other model parameters (Alton, 2009;Heilman et al, 2010;Hollinger et al, 2010). Albedo is influenced by atmospheric conditions (cloudy versus clear), sun angle (season and time of day), soil colour and foliage nitrogen concentration (Bonan, 1997;Heilman et al, 2010;Hollinger et al, 2010). Hollinger et al (2010) reported albedo estimates from six different climate modelling studies.…”

Section: Us Forest-surface Temperature Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Empirical analysis of the influence of forest extent on annual and seasonal surface temperatures for the continental United States

Wickham

Wade

Riitters

2012

Global Ecology and Biogeography

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Aim Because of the low albedo of forests and other biophysical factors, most scenario‐based climate modelling studies indicate that removal of temperate forest will promote cooling, indicating that temperate forests are a source of heat relative to other classes of land cover. Our objective was to test the hypothesis that US temperate forests reduce surface temperatures. Location The continental United States. Methods Ordinary least squares regression was used to develop relationships between forest extent and surface temperature. Forest extent was derived from the 900 m2 2001 National Land Cover Database (NLCD 2001) and surface temperature data were from the MODIS 1 km2 8‐day composite (MYD11A2). Forest–surface temperature relationships were developed for winter, spring, summer, autumn and annually using 5 years of MODIS land surface temperature data (2007–11) across six spatial scales (1, 4, 9, 16, 25 and 36 km2). Regression models controlled for the effects of elevation, aspect and latitude (by constraining the regressions within a 1° range). Results We did not find any significant positive slopes in regressions of average annual surface temperatures versus the proportion of forest, indicating that forests are not a source of heat relative to other types of land cover. We found that surface temperatures declined as the proportion of forest increased for spring, summer, autumn and annually. The forest–surface temperature relationship was also scale dependent in that spatially extensive forests produced cooler surface temperatures than forests that were dominant only locally. Main conclusions Our results are not consistent with most scenario‐based climate modelling studies. Because of their warming potential, the value of temperate afforestation as a potential climate change mitigation strategy is unclear. Our results indicate that temperate afforestation is a climate change mitigation strategy that should be implemented to promote spatially extensive forests.

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