Impact of deforestation on subsurface temperature profiles: implications for the borehole paleoclimate record

Abstract

Subsurface temperature profiles measured in boreholes are one of the important archives of paleoclimate data for reconstructing the climate of the past 2000 years. Subsurface temperatures are a function of past ground surface temperatures (GST), however GSTs are influenced both by changes in land-use and changes in regional climate. Thus the history of deforestation at borehole sampling locations represents a potential uncertainty in the reconstructed temperature history at the site. Here a fully coupled Earth system model is used estimate the magnitude of the subsurface temperature anomaly from deforestation events from a global perspective. The model simulations suggest that warming of the ground surface is the dominant response to deforestation, consistent with the limited field data that exist. The magnitude of the temperature anomaly varies by environment with a global average anomaly of 0.85 °C with a range of −0.48 °C to 1.78 °C. The warming originates from a reduction in the efficiency of turbulent energy flux to the atmosphere overcompensating an increase in albedo. Overall our simulations suggest that deforestation has a large impact on subsurface temperatures for centuries following deforestation and thus GST reconstructions should take into account previous deforestation events.