Radiative forcing of natural forest disturbances

Authors

Thomas L. O'Halloran, Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, Oregon State UniversityFollow
Beverly E. Law, Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, Oregon State University
Michael L. Goulden, Department of Earth System Science, University of California
Zhuosen Wang, Center for Remote Sensing, Boston University
Jordan G. Barr, South Florida Natural Resource Center, Everglades National ParkFollow
Crystal Schaaf, Center for Remote Sensing, Boston University
Mathew Brown, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British Columbia
José D. Fuentes, Department of Meteorology, Penn State UniversityFollow
Mathias Göckede, Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, Oregon State University
Andrew Black, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British Columbia
Vic Engel, South Florida Natural Resource Center, Everglades National ParkFollow

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.

Comments

Post Print Version.

Copyright © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2011.02577.x

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation through the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research program under Cooperative Agreements #DBI-0620409 and #DEB-9910514. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in the material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Recommended Citation

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]