Radiative forcing of natural forest disturbances
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Material Information

Title:
Radiative forcing of natural forest disturbances
Series Title:
Global Change Biology
Creator:
O'Halloran, Thomas L.
Law, Beverly E.
Goulden, Michael L.
Wang, Zhuosen
Barr, Jordan G.
Schaaf, Crystal
Brown, Mathew
Fuentes, José D.
Göckede, Mathias
Black, Andrew
Engel, Vic
Publisher:
Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Publication Date:
Language:
English

Notes

Abstract:
Forest disturbances are major sources of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, and therefore impact global climate. Biogeophysical attributes, such as surface albedo (reflectivity), further control the climate-regulating properties of forests. Using both tower-based and remotely sensed data sets, we show that natural disturbances from wildfire, beetle outbreaks, and hurricane wind throw can significantly alter surface albedo, and the associated radiative forcing either offsets or enhances the CO2 forcing caused by reducing ecosystem carbon sequestration over multiple years. In the examined cases, the radiative forcing from albedo change is on the same order of magnitude as the CO2 forcing. The net radiative forcing resulting from these two factors leads to a local heating effect in a hurricane-damaged mangrove forest in the subtropics, and a cooling effect following wildfire and mountain pine beetle attack in boreal forests with winter snow. Although natural forest disturbances currently represent less than half of gross forest cover loss, that area will probably increase in the future under climate change, making it imperative to represent these processes accurately in global climate models.
Citation/Reference:
T.L. O'Halloran, B.E. Law, M. Goulden, Z. Wang, J.G. Barr, C. Schaaf, M. Brown, J.D. Fuentes, M. Gockede, A. Black, V. Engel. 2011. Radiative forcing of natural forest disturbances. Global Change Biology 18(2), pp. 555-565; doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2011.02577.x. Accessed [date] from [url]

Record Information

Source Institution:
Florida International University
Rights Management:
Please contact the owning institution for licensing and permissions. It is the users responsibility to ensure use does not violate any third party rights.
Resource Identifier:
FI14082528
10.1111/j.1365-2486.2011.02577.x. ( doi )