Abstract
AbstractMajor boreal forest disturbance and associated carbon emissions have been reported in the coldest region of the Northern Hemisphere. Related biophysical feedbacks to climate remain highly uncertain but might reduce warming effects expected from carbon emissions. This study quantifies albedo change after disturbance, primarily fires, in larch‐dominated forests around Yakutsk as compared to undisturbed areas with natural albedo variability, using satellite‐based time series. The related annual mean shortwave radiative forcing was −6.015 W/m2 for the 13 years following forest disturbance. It was highly negative during snow‐covered months (−3.738 to −13.638 W/m2), but positive (+5.441 W/m2) for the summer months in the first year after disturbance, decreasing afterward and also turning into a negative forcing after 5 years. Forcing by surface shortwave radiation must be considered to assess the impact of boreal forest disturbance on climate and additional feedbacks, such as increased permafrost thaw or transition to alternative ecosystem states.
Highlights
Boreal forests cover more than 30% of the total forest area of the terrestrial Earth surface and are claimed to form one of the last intact biomes with 44% undisturbed and isolated from anthropogenic influences (Brandt et al, 2013)
This study aims at quantifying the surface shortwave radiative forcing through surface albedo changes by assessing the postfire vegetation trajectories in boreal forests in Eastern Siberia where extensive forest disturbance has been reported
The potential time lag in detection for part of the loss areas indicates that albedo values might not all be assigned to the actual year of forest loss but that recovery age classes might integrate values over 2 years instead of 1 year only
Summary
Boreal forests cover more than 30% of the total forest area of the terrestrial Earth surface and are claimed to form one of the last intact biomes with 44% undisturbed and isolated from anthropogenic influences (Brandt et al, 2013). With changing natural regimes, logging and primarily human‐caused fires large amounts of carbon, accumulated over centuries, could be released (Achard et al, 2006). In addition to these biogeochemical feedbacks, boreal forest disturbance impacts climate through altering biophysical interactions (Bonan, 2008; Duveiller et al, 2018; Snyder et al, 2004), but the amount of related studies is much lower than for other forcings (Bonan et al, 1992; Myhre et al, 2013). Climate forcing from an increasing albedo could offset the forcing induced by carbon emissions through forest disturbance (Bonan, 2008)
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