Vegetation controls on northern high latitude snow‐albedo feedback: observations and CMIP5 model simulations
The snow-masking effect of vegetation exerts strong control on albedo in northern high latitude ecosystems. Large-scale changes in the distribution and stature of vegetation in this region will thus have important feedbacks to climate. The snow-albedo feedback is controlled largely by the contrast b...
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2014
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ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org:ark:/13030/qt5w35t8rb 2023-10-25T01:28:21+02:00 Vegetation controls on northern high latitude snow‐albedo feedback: observations and CMIP5 model simulations Loranty, Michael M Berner, Logan T Goetz, Scott J Jin, Yufang Randerson, James T 594 - 606 2014-02-01 application/pdf https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5w35t8rb unknown eScholarship, University of California qt5w35t8rb https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5w35t8rb CC-BY Global Change Biology, vol 20, iss 2 Earth Sciences Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience Climate Action Climate Change Ecosystem Models Theoretical Plant Physiological Phenomena Remote Sensing Technology Snow albedo arctic boreal forest climate feedback CMIP5 global change vegetation cover Environmental Sciences Biological Sciences Ecology article 2014 ftcdlib 2023-09-25T18:03:52Z The snow-masking effect of vegetation exerts strong control on albedo in northern high latitude ecosystems. Large-scale changes in the distribution and stature of vegetation in this region will thus have important feedbacks to climate. The snow-albedo feedback is controlled largely by the contrast between snow-covered and snow-free albedo (Δα), which influences predictions of future warming in coupled climate models, despite being poorly constrained at seasonal and century time scales. Here, we compare satellite observations and coupled climate model representations of albedo and tree cover for the boreal and Arctic region. Our analyses reveal consistent declines in albedo with increasing tree cover, occurring south of latitudinal tree line, that are poorly represented in coupled climate models. Observed relationships between albedo and tree cover differ substantially between snow-covered and snow-free periods, and among plant functional type. Tree cover in models varies widely but surprisingly does not correlate well with model albedo. Furthermore, our results demonstrate a relationship between tree cover and snow-albedo feedback that may be used to accurately constrain high latitude albedo feedbacks in coupled climate models under current and future vegetation distributions. Article in Journal/Newspaper albedo Arctic Climate change University of California: eScholarship Arctic |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Earth Sciences Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience Climate Action Climate Change Ecosystem Models Theoretical Plant Physiological Phenomena Remote Sensing Technology Snow albedo arctic boreal forest climate feedback CMIP5 global change vegetation cover Environmental Sciences Biological Sciences Ecology |
spellingShingle |
Earth Sciences Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience Climate Action Climate Change Ecosystem Models Theoretical Plant Physiological Phenomena Remote Sensing Technology Snow albedo arctic boreal forest climate feedback CMIP5 global change vegetation cover Environmental Sciences Biological Sciences Ecology Loranty, Michael M Berner, Logan T Goetz, Scott J Jin, Yufang Randerson, James T Vegetation controls on northern high latitude snow‐albedo feedback: observations and CMIP5 model simulations |
topic_facet |
Earth Sciences Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience Climate Action Climate Change Ecosystem Models Theoretical Plant Physiological Phenomena Remote Sensing Technology Snow albedo arctic boreal forest climate feedback CMIP5 global change vegetation cover Environmental Sciences Biological Sciences Ecology |
description |
The snow-masking effect of vegetation exerts strong control on albedo in northern high latitude ecosystems. Large-scale changes in the distribution and stature of vegetation in this region will thus have important feedbacks to climate. The snow-albedo feedback is controlled largely by the contrast between snow-covered and snow-free albedo (Δα), which influences predictions of future warming in coupled climate models, despite being poorly constrained at seasonal and century time scales. Here, we compare satellite observations and coupled climate model representations of albedo and tree cover for the boreal and Arctic region. Our analyses reveal consistent declines in albedo with increasing tree cover, occurring south of latitudinal tree line, that are poorly represented in coupled climate models. Observed relationships between albedo and tree cover differ substantially between snow-covered and snow-free periods, and among plant functional type. Tree cover in models varies widely but surprisingly does not correlate well with model albedo. Furthermore, our results demonstrate a relationship between tree cover and snow-albedo feedback that may be used to accurately constrain high latitude albedo feedbacks in coupled climate models under current and future vegetation distributions. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Loranty, Michael M Berner, Logan T Goetz, Scott J Jin, Yufang Randerson, James T |
author_facet |
Loranty, Michael M Berner, Logan T Goetz, Scott J Jin, Yufang Randerson, James T |
author_sort |
Loranty, Michael M |
title |
Vegetation controls on northern high latitude snow‐albedo feedback: observations and CMIP5 model simulations |
title_short |
Vegetation controls on northern high latitude snow‐albedo feedback: observations and CMIP5 model simulations |
title_full |
Vegetation controls on northern high latitude snow‐albedo feedback: observations and CMIP5 model simulations |
title_fullStr |
Vegetation controls on northern high latitude snow‐albedo feedback: observations and CMIP5 model simulations |
title_full_unstemmed |
Vegetation controls on northern high latitude snow‐albedo feedback: observations and CMIP5 model simulations |
title_sort |
vegetation controls on northern high latitude snow‐albedo feedback: observations and cmip5 model simulations |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5w35t8rb |
op_coverage |
594 - 606 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
albedo Arctic Climate change |
genre_facet |
albedo Arctic Climate change |
op_source |
Global Change Biology, vol 20, iss 2 |
op_relation |
qt5w35t8rb https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5w35t8rb |
op_rights |
CC-BY |
_version_ |
1780742458549731328 |