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Graf A, Wohlfahrt G, Aranda-Barranco S, Arriga N, Brümmer C, Ceschia E, Ciais P, Desai AR, Di Lonardo S, Gharun M, Grünwald T, Hörtnagl L, Kasak K, Klosterhalfen A, Knohl A, Kowalska N, Leuchner M, Lindroth A, Mauder M, Migliavacca M, Morel AC, Pfennig A, Poorter H, Terán CP, Reitz O, Rebmann C, Sanchez-Azofeifa A, Schmidt M, Šigut L, Tomelleri E, Yu K, Varlagin A, Vereecken H. Joint optimization of land carbon uptake and albedo can help achieve moderate instantaneous and long-term cooling effects. Commun Earth Environ 2023; 4:298. [PMID: 38665193 PMCID: PMC11041785 DOI: 10.1038/s43247-023-00958-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2022] [Accepted: 08/07/2023] [Indexed: 04/28/2024]
Abstract
Both carbon dioxide uptake and albedo of the land surface affect global climate. However, climate change mitigation by increasing carbon uptake can cause a warming trade-off by decreasing albedo, with most research focusing on afforestation and its interaction with snow. Here, we present carbon uptake and albedo observations from 176 globally distributed flux stations. We demonstrate a gradual decline in maximum achievable annual albedo as carbon uptake increases, even within subgroups of non-forest and snow-free ecosystems. Based on a paired-site permutation approach, we quantify the likely impact of land use on carbon uptake and albedo. Shifting to the maximum attainable carbon uptake at each site would likely cause moderate net global warming for the first approximately 20 years, followed by a strong cooling effect. A balanced policy co-optimizing carbon uptake and albedo is possible that avoids warming on any timescale, but results in a weaker long-term cooling effect.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Graf
- Institute of Bio- and Geosciences: Agrosphere (IBG-3), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Georg Wohlfahrt
- Universität Innsbruck, Institut für Ökologie, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Sergio Aranda-Barranco
- Andalusian Institute for Earth System Research (IISTA-CEAMA), 18071 Granada, Spain
- Departament of Ecology, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
| | - Nicola Arriga
- European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Ispra, Italy
| | - Christian Brümmer
- Thünen Institute of Climate-Smart Agriculture, Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Eric Ceschia
- CESBIO, Université de Toulouse, CNES/CNRS/INRA/IRD/UPS, Toulouse, France
| | - Philippe Ciais
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, 91191 France
| | - Ankur R. Desai
- Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI USA
| | - Sara Di Lonardo
- Research Institute on Terrestrial Ecosystems-National Research Council (IRET-CNR), Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
| | - Mana Gharun
- Institute of Landscape Ecology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Thomas Grünwald
- Technische Universität Dresden, Institute of Hydrology and Meteorology, Dresden, Germany
| | - Lukas Hörtnagl
- Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zürich, Universitätstrasse 2, Zürich, 8092 Switzerland
| | - Kuno Kasak
- Department of Geography, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | | | | | - Natalia Kowalska
- Global Change Research Institute CAS, Bělidla 986/4a, CZ-60300 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Michael Leuchner
- Physical Geography and Climatology, Institute of Geography, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Anders Lindroth
- Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Matthias Mauder
- Technische Universität Dresden, Institute of Hydrology and Meteorology, Dresden, Germany
| | | | - Alexandra C. Morel
- Division of Energy, Environment and Society, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK
| | - Andreas Pfennig
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Hendrik Poorter
- Institute of Bio- and Geosciences: Plant Sciences (IBG-2), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
- Department of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109 Australia
| | - Christian Poppe Terán
- Institute of Bio- and Geosciences: Agrosphere (IBG-3), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Oliver Reitz
- Physical Geography and Climatology, Institute of Geography, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Corinna Rebmann
- Department Computational Hydrosystems, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Arturo Sanchez-Azofeifa
- Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department, Centre for Earth Observation Sciences (CEOS), Edmonton, AB Canada
| | - Marius Schmidt
- Institute of Bio- and Geosciences: Agrosphere (IBG-3), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Ladislav Šigut
- Global Change Research Institute CAS, Bělidla 986/4a, CZ-60300 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Enrico Tomelleri
- Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, Free University of Bolzano, Piazza Università 5, 39100 Bolzano, Italy
| | - Ke Yu
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, 91191 France
| | - Andrej Varlagin
- A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119071 Leninsky pr.33, Moscow, Russia
| | - Harry Vereecken
- Institute of Bio- and Geosciences: Agrosphere (IBG-3), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
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