Weakened future surface warming in China due to national planned afforestation through biophysical feedback
Abstract A national-level afforestation plan has been announced by the Chinese government to combat global warming through carbon sequestration. However, the biophysical feedback of afforestation under future climate scenarios has not yet been assessed. Here, using the Weather Research and Forecast...
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| Format: | Article |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-02-01
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| Series: | npj Climate and Atmospheric Science |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-025-00915-2 |
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| author | Shuaifeng Song Xiaodong Yan Xuezhen Zhang Zhibo Gao Wenqiang Xie |
| author_facet | Shuaifeng Song Xiaodong Yan Xuezhen Zhang Zhibo Gao Wenqiang Xie |
| author_sort | Shuaifeng Song |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract A national-level afforestation plan has been announced by the Chinese government to combat global warming through carbon sequestration. However, the biophysical feedback of afforestation under future climate scenarios has not yet been assessed. Here, using the Weather Research and Forecast model (WRF) nested by the bias-corrected MPI-ESM1-2-HR model, we simulated how future afforestation regulated the land surface temperature (LST) in China. The results show that afforestation induces a significant cooling effect over the period 2041–2060 under the SSP2-4.5 scenario, in particular in the cold season. The additional cooling effect offsets about 3.69% of the projected LST increase due to global warming and even overcompensates the LST increase in southwestern China. On the diurnal cycles, afforestation induces daytime cooling effects of −0.21 °C caused by increased latent heat fluxes, while nighttime warming effects of 0.05 °C induced mainly by cloud feedback. Our findings highlight the importance of the scientific identification of afforestation areas when developing land-management strategies and biophysical feedback for climate change mitigation. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-f2e43742bd32432ea344eede994af7e5 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2397-3722 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | npj Climate and Atmospheric Science |
| spelling | doaj-art-f2e43742bd32432ea344eede994af7e52025-02-09T12:27:10ZengNature Portfolionpj Climate and Atmospheric Science2397-37222025-02-018111210.1038/s41612-025-00915-2Weakened future surface warming in China due to national planned afforestation through biophysical feedbackShuaifeng Song0Xiaodong Yan1Xuezhen Zhang2Zhibo Gao3Wenqiang Xie4Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of SciencesState Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal UniversityKey Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of SciencesHeavy Rain and Drought-Flood Disasters in Plateau and Basin Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Meteorology, China Meteorological AdministrationState Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal UniversityAbstract A national-level afforestation plan has been announced by the Chinese government to combat global warming through carbon sequestration. However, the biophysical feedback of afforestation under future climate scenarios has not yet been assessed. Here, using the Weather Research and Forecast model (WRF) nested by the bias-corrected MPI-ESM1-2-HR model, we simulated how future afforestation regulated the land surface temperature (LST) in China. The results show that afforestation induces a significant cooling effect over the period 2041–2060 under the SSP2-4.5 scenario, in particular in the cold season. The additional cooling effect offsets about 3.69% of the projected LST increase due to global warming and even overcompensates the LST increase in southwestern China. On the diurnal cycles, afforestation induces daytime cooling effects of −0.21 °C caused by increased latent heat fluxes, while nighttime warming effects of 0.05 °C induced mainly by cloud feedback. Our findings highlight the importance of the scientific identification of afforestation areas when developing land-management strategies and biophysical feedback for climate change mitigation.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-025-00915-2 |
| spellingShingle | Shuaifeng Song Xiaodong Yan Xuezhen Zhang Zhibo Gao Wenqiang Xie Weakened future surface warming in China due to national planned afforestation through biophysical feedback npj Climate and Atmospheric Science |
| title | Weakened future surface warming in China due to national planned afforestation through biophysical feedback |
| title_full | Weakened future surface warming in China due to national planned afforestation through biophysical feedback |
| title_fullStr | Weakened future surface warming in China due to national planned afforestation through biophysical feedback |
| title_full_unstemmed | Weakened future surface warming in China due to national planned afforestation through biophysical feedback |
| title_short | Weakened future surface warming in China due to national planned afforestation through biophysical feedback |
| title_sort | weakened future surface warming in china due to national planned afforestation through biophysical feedback |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-025-00915-2 |
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