forest

A revelation about trees is messing with climate calculations

A revelation about trees is messing with climate calculations

Trees make clouds by releasing small quantities of vapors called “sesquiterpenes.” Scientists are learning more—and it’s making climate models hazy.

Half of Earth’s cloud cover forms around stuff like sand, salt, soot, smoke, and dust. The other half nucleates around vapors released by living things or machines, like the sulfur dioxide that arises from burning fossil fuels.

Trees emit natural volatiles like isoprene and monoterpenes, which can spark cloud-forming chemical reactions.

The team shows that sesquiterpenes are more effective than expected for seeding clouds. A mere 1-to-50 ratio of sesquiterpene to other volatiles doubled cloud formation.

https://www.wired.com/story/a-revelation-about-trees-is-messing-with-climate-calculations/

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Securing the climate benefits of stable forests

Securing the climate benefits of stable forests

Stable forests: We argue that resource and finance allocation for stable forests should be incorporated into countries’ and donors’ comprehensive portfolios aimed at tackling deforestation and forest degradation as well as resulting emissions.

Key policy insights:

  • Climate policies, finance, and implementation have tended to focus on areas of recent forest loss and near-term threats of anthropogenic disturbance, resulting in an imbalance of effort that fails to adequately address stable forests.
  • In some contexts, policy measures intended to secure the climate-related benefits of stable forests have competed poorly against more urgent threats. Policymakers and finance mechanisms should view stable forests as a complementary element within a holistic, long-term approach to resource management.
  • International mechanisms and national frameworks should be adjusted and resourced to promote the long-term sustainability and permanence of stable forests.
  • Beyond additional resources, the climate benefits of stable forests may be best secured by pro-actively designing implementing policies that recognize the rights and interests of stakeholders who are affected by land management decisions.
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Sub-canopy microclimate temperatures of European forests

Sub-canopy microclimate temperatures of European forests

Mind the difference between air temperature measured in 2m height and at the ground:

Ecological research heavily relies on coarse-gridded climate data based on standard- ized temperature measurements recorded at 2 m height in open landscapes. However, many organisms experience environmental conditions that differ substantially from those captured by these macroclimatic (i.e. free air) temperature grids. […]. We found that sub-canopy air tem- peratures differ substantially from free-air temperatures, being on average 2.1°C (standard deviation ± 1.6°C) lower in summer and 2.0°C higher (±0.7°C) in winter across Europe.

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Forests buffer against variations in precipitation

Forests buffer against variations in precipitation

More forest, more stable rains:

We found a significant buffering effect of forests in the precipitation variability of 10 out of 14 biomes globally. On average, if 50% of precipitation originates from forest, then we find a reduction in the coefficient of variation of monthly precipitation of 60%. We also observed that a high fraction of precipitation from non-forest land sources tends to have the opposite effect, that is, no buffering effect. The average variation of monthly precipitation was 69% higher in areas where 50% of precipitation originates from non-forest land sources in the precipitationshed. Our results emphasize the importance of land cover composition in the precipitationshed to buffer precipitation variability downwind, in particular forest cover.

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Presentation: Working with plants, soils and water to cool the climate and rehydrate Earth’s landscapes

Presentation: Working with plants, soils and water to cool the climate and rehydrate Earth’s landscapes

My presentation on “Working with plants, soils and water to cool the climate and rehydrate Earth’s landscapes“.

As it looks, we have a pretty exciting tool in the climate as well as agriculture discussion with multiple benefits: more vegetation (especially in agriculture; through undersowing, intercropping, agroforestry, but also through a different form of animal husbandry, forest conversion, water retention) means more fertile soils, more water storage capacity and infiltration, more nutrients, more habitat for insects & co, more … and v. especially a cooling (of the layers near the ground), heat loss into space, more clouds with more precipitation and more sunlight reflection, which in turn contributes to the cooling of the climate, as well as activates the small (weakened) water cycles.

In short, we can(t) work with nature to cool the climate, strengthen the small water cycles, and in the process make agriculture, forestry, and water management more resilient and “fertile.”

This talk is based on the findings of my UNEP article (exists in French, Spanish, Chinese too).

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Article: Working with plants, soils and water to cool the climate and rehydrate Earth’s landscapes

Article: Working with plants, soils and water to cool the climate and rehydrate Earth’s landscapes

My UNEP paper on “Working with plants, soils and water to cool the climate and rehydrate Earth’s landscapes“.

The continued destruction of forests, the deterioration of soils, the subsequent loss of terrestrial soil water storage and the reduction of water retention in the landscape are disrupting the movement of water in and through the atmosphere. This disruption causes major shifts in precipitation that could lead to less rainfall and more droughts in many areas of the world, increases in regional temperatures and an exacerbation of climate change. These changes affect regional climate, but can also impact regions far away. Understanding the interwoven relationships and the subsequent fluxes of energy between plants, soils and water on the ground, as well as in the atmosphere, can help mitigate climate change and create more resilient ecosystems.

Translations into French, Spanish, Chinese to be found here (#25).

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Amazonia´s flying rivers – no forest, no water

Amazonia´s flying rivers – no forest, no water

Interesting and informative documentary: The Amazon rainforest is not only the earth’s green lung (absorbing and storing carbon dioxide from the air and converting it to oxygen) it is also its air conditioner: intact forests suck in rain clouds from the Atlantic and evaporate water. In this way they cool the earth. Without forest, no water: if more and more forest disappears, this phenomenon of ‘flying rivers’ acting like a gigantic water pump can no longer exist. Scientists, politicians and environmental activists explain the fragile balance.

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