Abstract
The Siberian larch forests, taking up about a fifth of the global boreal biome, are different from the North American boreal forests in that they generally do not undergo a secondary succession. While wildfires in the boreal forests in North America have been shown to exert a cooling effect on the climate system through a sharp increase in surface albedo associated with canopy removal and species composition change during succession, the magnitude of the surface forcing resulting from fire-induced albedo change and its longevity in Siberia have not been previously quantified. Here we show that in contrast to previous expectations, stand-replacing fires exert a strong cooling effect similar in magnitude to that in North America. This cooling effect is attributable to the increase in surface albedo during snow-on periods. However, the observed earlier snowmelt in the region, and subsequently a longer snow-free season, has resulted in a warming effect which has the potential to offset the fire-induced cooling. The net albedo-induced forcing of the Siberian larch forests in the future would hinge on the interaction between the fire-induced cooling effect and the climate-induced warming effect, both of which will be impacted by the expected further warming in the region.
Highlights
The boreal forest is one of the largest biomes in the world[1,2] and a key element in the global climate system that has the capacity to impact regional and global climate[3]
Larch species dominate forest composition at all recovery stages and generally do not undergo secondary broadleaf successional stages. This implies that the knowledge gained about the climatic impact of the fire-induced albedo changes in the North American boreal forests cannot be readily applied to the larch forests of Siberia
Rogers et al.[14] have shown that the albedo-induced cooling effect caused by wildfires in Northern Siberia is much smaller than that in North America, with the net climatic impact of wildfires in Siberia potentially resulting in a small warming or neutral effect
Summary
The boreal forest is one of the largest biomes in the world[1,2] and a key element in the global climate system that has the capacity to impact regional and global climate[3]. Larch species dominate forest composition at all recovery stages and generally do not undergo secondary broadleaf successional stages This implies that the knowledge gained about the climatic impact of the fire-induced albedo changes in the North American boreal forests cannot be readily applied to the larch forests of Siberia. A recent study conducted by Rogers et al.[14] indicates that the post-fire stands in boreal Northern Eurasia produce an albedo-induced cooling effect of a much smaller magnitude compared to those in the North American boreal forests. The delineation of the study area was based on the deciduous needleleaf forest class in the 500-m MODIS Land Cover Type Product (MCD12Q1; Friedl et al.24,25) (see details in Chen et al.[22]) Within this region, wildfires are the most dominant disturbance agent, accounting for 87% of forest loss between 2001 and 201222
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