An Evaluation of CMIP6 Models in Representing the Biophysical Effects of Deforestation With Satellite‐Based Observations

Abstract

Pielke et al., 2011). The impacts of deforestation on surface temperature vary spatially and temporally depending on the background climate (de Winckler et al., 2017). Deforestation, on the one hand, cools the surface due to increased albedo and, on the other hand, warms the surface as a result of decreased aerodynamic roughness and evapotranspiration (

Local and Nonlocal Biophysical Effects of Historical Land Use and Land Cover Changes in CMIP6 Models and the Intermodel Uncertainty

“…The relative contributions of the SW↑ cooling effect and the LH and SH warming effects vary across latitudes, ultimately resulting in warming at low latitudes and cooling at high latitudes. The models basically agree on the latitudinal distribution of the local effects, which is consistent with earlier observation- (Alkama & Cescatti, 2016;Duveiller et al, 2021;Prevedello et al, 2019) and model-based (Boysen et al, 2020;Luo et al, 2023;Smith et al, 2023;Winckler et al, 2017a) studies. However, the magnitude of the local surface temperature change is smaller in this study.…”

“…Such effects of LULCCs on surface temperature are regulated by the background climate (Alkama et al, 2022;Ge et al, 2023;Pitman et al, 2011). In general, the warming effect of deforestation dominates in the tropics, whereas the cooling effect dominates in the northern high latitudes (Alkama & Cescatti, 2016;Lawrence et al, 2022;Luo et al, 2023). These effects that only affect the climate at the location of LULCCs are referred to as local effects (Winckler et al, 2017a).…”