TY  - JOUR
AU  - Tian, Lei
AU  - Zhang, Baoqing
AU  - Wang, Xuejin
AU  - Chen, Shuoyu
AU  - Pan, Baotian
ID  - ref1
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2022
DA  - 2022//
TI  - Large-Scale Afforestation Over the Loess Plateau in China Contributes to the Local Warming Trend
JO  - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
SP  - e2021JD035730
VL  - 127
IS  - 1
AB  - Abstract Afforestation is a major anthropogenic forcing to the global and regional climate. However, the biophysical impacts of large-scale afforestation on local temperature in temperate regions remain unclear, due to the closely matched but compensating radiative and non-radiative effects. The Grain for Green Program (GFGP) is a large-scale afforestation program implemented over the Loess Plateau (LP) in China. The GFGP thus provides an ideal platform to explore the temperature effect of afforestation. This study investigated such a temperature effect through long-term, high-resolution simulations incorporating satellite observations in a coupled land-atmosphere model. With an optimal combination of physical schemes proposed by this study, we greatly improved the accuracy of regional climate modeling. The results reveal that the afforestation caused a significant decline (−0.50% yr−1) in albedo. An increment in net shortwave radiation mainly led to an increment in net radiation (7.95 W m−2). The afforestation also led to an increment in sensible heat flux (3.78 W m−2). Consequently, the afforestation caused a warming effect (0.36°C) in 2-meter air temperature at the inter-annual scale. At the intra-annual scale, there was a cooling effect in July and August, while other months demonstrated a warming effect. The radiative effect dominated local temperature change induced by the afforestation over the LP. Therefore, the large-scale afforestation contributed to the local warming trend. Our findings highlight the temperature effect of afforestation, and imply that more attention should be paid to future revegetation to carefully assess its potential influence on regional climate.
SN  - 2169-897X
UR  - https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2021JD035730
ID  - ref2
ER  -