A Century of Reforestation Reduced Anthropogenic Warming in the Eastern United States
Abstract Restoring and preserving the world's forests are promising natural pathways to mitigate some aspects of climate change. In addition to regulating atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, forests modify surface and near‐surface air temperatures through biophysical processes. In the ea...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2024-02-01
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| Series: | Earth's Future |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2023EF003663 |
| _version_ | 1797276921536446464 |
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| author | Mallory L. Barnes Quan Zhang Scott M. Robeson Lily Young Elizabeth A. Burakowski A. Christopher. Oishi Paul C. Stoy Gaby Katul Kimberly A. Novick |
| author_facet | Mallory L. Barnes Quan Zhang Scott M. Robeson Lily Young Elizabeth A. Burakowski A. Christopher. Oishi Paul C. Stoy Gaby Katul Kimberly A. Novick |
| author_sort | Mallory L. Barnes |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Restoring and preserving the world's forests are promising natural pathways to mitigate some aspects of climate change. In addition to regulating atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, forests modify surface and near‐surface air temperatures through biophysical processes. In the eastern United States (EUS), widespread reforestation during the 20th century coincided with an anomalous lack of warming, raising questions about reforestation's contribution to local cooling and climate mitigation. Using new cross‐scale approaches and multiple independent sources of data, we uncovered links between reforestation and the response of both surface and air temperature in the EUS. Ground‐ and satellite‐based observations showed that EUS forests cool the land surface by 1–2°C annually compared to nearby grasslands and croplands, with the strongest cooling effect during midday in the growing season, when cooling is 2–5°C. Young forests (20–40 years) have the strongest cooling effect on surface temperature. Surface cooling extends to the near‐surface air, with forests reducing midday air temperature by up to 1°C compared to nearby non‐forests. Analyses of historical land cover and air temperature trends showed that the cooling benefits of reforestation extend across the landscape. Locations surrounded by reforestation were up to 1°C cooler than neighboring locations that did not undergo land cover change, and areas dominated by regrowing forests were associated with cooling temperature trends in much of the EUS. Our work indicates reforestation contributed to the historically slow pace of warming in the EUS, underscoring reforestation's potential as a local climate adaptation strategy in temperate regions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T15:36:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-061bce387fd2481cb50769b4f5a387b5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2328-4277 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T15:36:19Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Earth's Future |
| spelling | doaj.art-061bce387fd2481cb50769b4f5a387b52024-03-05T11:10:50ZengWileyEarth's Future2328-42772024-02-01122n/an/a10.1029/2023EF003663A Century of Reforestation Reduced Anthropogenic Warming in the Eastern United StatesMallory L. Barnes0Quan Zhang1Scott M. Robeson2Lily Young3Elizabeth A. Burakowski4A. Christopher. Oishi5Paul C. Stoy6Gaby Katul7Kimberly A. Novick8O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs Indiana University Bloomington IN USAState Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science Wuhan University Wuhan ChinaDepartment of Geography Indiana University Bloomington IN USAO'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs Indiana University Bloomington IN USAInstitute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space University of New Hampshire Durham NH USACoweeta Hydrologic Laboratory USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station Otto NC USADepartment of Biological Systems Engineering University of Wisconsin–Madison Madison WI USADepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering Duke University Durham NC USAO'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs Indiana University Bloomington IN USAAbstract Restoring and preserving the world's forests are promising natural pathways to mitigate some aspects of climate change. In addition to regulating atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, forests modify surface and near‐surface air temperatures through biophysical processes. In the eastern United States (EUS), widespread reforestation during the 20th century coincided with an anomalous lack of warming, raising questions about reforestation's contribution to local cooling and climate mitigation. Using new cross‐scale approaches and multiple independent sources of data, we uncovered links between reforestation and the response of both surface and air temperature in the EUS. Ground‐ and satellite‐based observations showed that EUS forests cool the land surface by 1–2°C annually compared to nearby grasslands and croplands, with the strongest cooling effect during midday in the growing season, when cooling is 2–5°C. Young forests (20–40 years) have the strongest cooling effect on surface temperature. Surface cooling extends to the near‐surface air, with forests reducing midday air temperature by up to 1°C compared to nearby non‐forests. Analyses of historical land cover and air temperature trends showed that the cooling benefits of reforestation extend across the landscape. Locations surrounded by reforestation were up to 1°C cooler than neighboring locations that did not undergo land cover change, and areas dominated by regrowing forests were associated with cooling temperature trends in much of the EUS. Our work indicates reforestation contributed to the historically slow pace of warming in the EUS, underscoring reforestation's potential as a local climate adaptation strategy in temperate regions.https://doi.org/10.1029/2023EF003663natural climate solutionsreforestationbiophysical impactsclimate adaptation |
| spellingShingle | Mallory L. Barnes Quan Zhang Scott M. Robeson Lily Young Elizabeth A. Burakowski A. Christopher. Oishi Paul C. Stoy Gaby Katul Kimberly A. Novick A Century of Reforestation Reduced Anthropogenic Warming in the Eastern United States Earth's Future natural climate solutions reforestation biophysical impacts climate adaptation |
| title | A Century of Reforestation Reduced Anthropogenic Warming in the Eastern United States |
| title_full | A Century of Reforestation Reduced Anthropogenic Warming in the Eastern United States |
| title_fullStr | A Century of Reforestation Reduced Anthropogenic Warming in the Eastern United States |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Century of Reforestation Reduced Anthropogenic Warming in the Eastern United States |
| title_short | A Century of Reforestation Reduced Anthropogenic Warming in the Eastern United States |
| title_sort | century of reforestation reduced anthropogenic warming in the eastern united states |
| topic | natural climate solutions reforestation biophysical impacts climate adaptation |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2023EF003663 |
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