Projects per year
Abstract
Forests cool the climate system by acting as a sink for carbon dioxide (CO2) and by enhancing the atmospheric aerosol load. whereas the simultaneous decrease of the surface albedo tends to have a warming effect. Here, we present the concept of CarbonSink+. which considers these combined effects. Using the boreal forest environment as an illustrative example, we estimated that accounting for the CarbonSink+ enhances the forest CO2 uptake by 10-50% due to the combined effects of CO2 fertilization and aerosol-induced diffuse radiation enhancement on photosynthesis. We further estimated that with afforestation or reforestation, i.e., replacing grasslands with forests in a boreal environment, the radiative cooling due to forest aerosols cancels most of the radiative warming due to decreased surface albedos. These two forcing components have. however, relatively large uncertainty ranges. resulting in large uncertainties in the overall effect of CarbonSink+. We discuss shortly the potential future changes in the strength of CarbonSink+ in the boreal region, resulting from changes in atmospheric composition and climate.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Boreal Environment Research |
Volume | 25 |
Pages (from-to) | 145-159 |
Number of pages | 15 |
ISSN | 1239-6095 |
Publication status | Published - 2020 |
MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Fields of Science
- AEROSOL-CLOUD INTERACTIONS
- BOREAL FORESTS
- CO2
- DIOXIDE
- EMISSIONS
- IMPACT
- LAND-USE
- SINK
- TEMPERATURE
- WILDFIRES
- 114 Physical sciences
Projects
- 1 Finished
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AGES: Aerosols from Green Sahara
Makkonen, R. (Project manager) & Zhou, P. (Participant)
Valtion perusrahoitus/hankkeet
01/01/2018 → 31/12/2020
Project: University of Helsinki Three-Year Research Project