carbon

Jul

2023

The cycles of carbon, water and energy are closely coupled

Nature can’t be seen and analyzed linearly. She is always more complex. That’s why we must look at how the cycles of carbon, water and energy are closely coupled. Here is a draft sketch of mine to show this. How is incoming solar radiation transformed on the ground – producing latent energy (therefore water is needed) or sensible heat? Sensible heat means higher reradiation from the land into the atmosphere – a key factor for the greenhouse effect. The higher the reradiation, the higher the GHG effect.

Latent energy – that is water vapour – build clouds, reflecting solar radiation (positive!), transporting that solar energy from the ground into the higher atmosphere (positive!), which can dissipate partly into outer space (positive!). And the clouds can bring rain (positive!).

Sensible heat is producing a lot of hot air (negative!), increasing long-wave reradiation (negative!), building eventually high pressure zones which can block incoming low pressure zones which would bring precipitations (negative!).

Just to name a few consequences. For more, check out my UNEP paper “Working with plants, soils and water to cool the climate and rehydrate Earth’s landscapes” [1], my presentation “Planting water” [2], our project “Climate Landscapes” [3].

[1] bit.ly/3zeukPb
[2] www.youtu.be/tBmtIPhh7UI
[3] www.climate-landscapes.org

Aug

2022

The Unseen Effects of Deforestation: Biophysical Effects on Climate

Don’t only look at carbon!

We find that tropical deforestation leads to strong net global warming as a result of both CO2 and biophysical effects. From the tropics to a point between 30◦N and 40◦N, biophysical cooling by standing forests is both local and global, adding to the global cooling effect of CO2 sequestered by forests. In the mid- latitudes up to 50◦N, deforestation leads to modest net global warming as warming from released forest carbon outweighs a small opposing biophysical cooling. Beyond 50◦N large scale deforestation leads to a net global cooling due to the dominance of biophysical processes (particularly increased albedo) over warming from CO2 released. Locally at all latitudes, forest biophysical impacts far outweigh CO2 effects, promoting local climate stability by reducing extreme temperatures in all seasons and times of day. The importance of forests for both global climate change mitigation and local adaptation by human and non-human species is not adequately captured by current carbon-centric metrics, particularly in the context of future climate warming.