Biophysical climate impacts of recent changes in global forest cover

TLDR

Forest loss alters climate by changing land‑atmosphere energy and water fluxes in addition to carbon cycle effects, yet its global impact is obscured by climate‑zone specific variations that mask large‑scale trends. Alkama and Cescatti performed a global assessment of the biophysical effects of forest cover change. Forest loss amplifies diurnal temperature variations, raises mean and maximum air temperatures, and produces warming comparable to CO₂ emissions from land‑use change. Science, this issue p.

Abstract

It's not only the carbon in the trees Forest loss affects climate not just because of the impacts it has on the carbon cycle, but also because of how it affects the fluxes of energy and water between the land and the atmosphere. Evaluating global impact is complicated because deforestation can produce different results in different climate zones, making it hard to determine large-scale trends rather than more local ones. Alkama and Cescatti conducted a global assessment of the biophysical effects of forest cover change. Forest loss amplifies diurnal temperature variations, increases mean and maximum air temperatures, and causes a significant amount of warming when compared to CO 2 emission from land-use change. Science , this issue p. 600