Evaporative Resistance is of Equal Importance as Surface Albedo in High‐Latitude Surface Temperatures Due to Cloud Feedbacks

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Jinhyuk E. Kim, Marysa M. Laguë, Sam Pennypacker, Eliza Dawson, Abigail L. S. Swann
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2020
• Subjects: Arctic vegetation; land atmosphere interactions; cloud feedbacks; surface energy budget; surface land temperatures; evaporative resistance; Geophysics. Cosmic physics; QC801-809; albedo
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL085663; https://doaj.org/article/3e03cbda02de467aba0297b6c757925d

Abstract Arctic vegetation is known to influence Arctic surface temperatures through albedo. However, it is less clear how plant evaporative resistance and albedo independently influence surface climate at high latitudes. We use surface properties derived from two common Arctic tree types to simulate the climate response to a change in land surface albedo and evaporative resistance in factorial combinations. We find that lower evaporative resistances lead to an increase of low clouds. The reflection of light due to the difference in albedos between vegetation types is similar to the loss of incident sunlight due to increased cloud cover resulting from lower evaporative resistance from vegetation change. Our results demonstrate that realistic changes in evaporative resistance can have an equal impact on surface temperature to changes in albedo and that cloud feedbacks play a first‐order role in determining the surface climate response to changes in Arctic land cover.