Pub Date : 2024-11-15DOI: 10.1038/s41561-024-01586-z
Hao Zhou, Xu Yue, Huibin Dai, Guannan Geng, Wenping Yuan, Jiquan Chen, Guofeng Shen, Tianyi Zhang, Jun Zhu, Hong Liao
Severe air pollution reduces ecosystem carbon assimilation through the vegetation damaging effects of ozone and by altering the climate through aerosol effects, exacerbating global warming. In response, China implemented the Clean Air Action plan in 2013 to reduce anthropogenic emissions. Here we assess the impact of air pollution reductions due to the Clean Air Action plan on net primary productivity (NPP) in China during the period 2014–2020 using multiple measurements, process-based models and machine learning algorithms. The Clean Air Action plan led to a national NPP increase of 26.3 ± 27.9 TgC yr−1, of which 20.1 ± 10.9 TgC yr−1 is attributed to aerosol reductions, driven by both the enhanced light availability as a result of decreased black carbon concentrations and the increased precipitation caused by weakened aerosol climatic effects. The impact of ozone amelioration became more important over time, surpassing the effects of aerosol reduction by 2020, and is expected to drive future NPP recovery. Two machine learning models simulated similar NPP recoveries of 42.8 ± 26.8 TgC yr−1 and 43.4 ± 30.1 TgC yr−1. Our study highlights substantial carbon gains from controlling aerosols and surface ozone, underscoring the co-benefits of regulating air pollution for public health and carbon neutrality in China. A quantitative assessment suggests that the reductions in aerosol and ozone levels from 2014 to 2020 due to the clean air action in China led to a substantial increase in the national net primary productivity due to the weakened aerosol climatic effects, alleviated ozone vegetation damage and enhanced light availability.
{"title":"Recovery of ecosystem productivity in China due to the Clean Air Action plan","authors":"Hao Zhou, Xu Yue, Huibin Dai, Guannan Geng, Wenping Yuan, Jiquan Chen, Guofeng Shen, Tianyi Zhang, Jun Zhu, Hong Liao","doi":"10.1038/s41561-024-01586-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41561-024-01586-z","url":null,"abstract":"Severe air pollution reduces ecosystem carbon assimilation through the vegetation damaging effects of ozone and by altering the climate through aerosol effects, exacerbating global warming. In response, China implemented the Clean Air Action plan in 2013 to reduce anthropogenic emissions. Here we assess the impact of air pollution reductions due to the Clean Air Action plan on net primary productivity (NPP) in China during the period 2014–2020 using multiple measurements, process-based models and machine learning algorithms. The Clean Air Action plan led to a national NPP increase of 26.3 ± 27.9 TgC yr−1, of which 20.1 ± 10.9 TgC yr−1 is attributed to aerosol reductions, driven by both the enhanced light availability as a result of decreased black carbon concentrations and the increased precipitation caused by weakened aerosol climatic effects. The impact of ozone amelioration became more important over time, surpassing the effects of aerosol reduction by 2020, and is expected to drive future NPP recovery. Two machine learning models simulated similar NPP recoveries of 42.8 ± 26.8 TgC yr−1 and 43.4 ± 30.1 TgC yr−1. Our study highlights substantial carbon gains from controlling aerosols and surface ozone, underscoring the co-benefits of regulating air pollution for public health and carbon neutrality in China. A quantitative assessment suggests that the reductions in aerosol and ozone levels from 2014 to 2020 due to the clean air action in China led to a substantial increase in the national net primary productivity due to the weakened aerosol climatic effects, alleviated ozone vegetation damage and enhanced light availability.","PeriodicalId":19053,"journal":{"name":"Nature Geoscience","volume":"17 12","pages":"1233-1239"},"PeriodicalIF":15.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142637063","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-12DOI: 10.1038/s41561-024-01579-y
Mingsong Li, Lee R. Kump, Andy Ridgwell, Jessica E. Tierney, Gregory J. Hakim, Steven B. Malevich, Christopher J. Poulsen, Robert Tardif, Haoxun Zhang, Jiang Zhu
The Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum, a climate event 56 million years ago, was characterized by rapid carbon release and extensive ocean acidification. However, our understanding of acidification and the evolution of ocean saturation states continues to be hindered by considerable uncertainties, primarily stemming from the limited availability of proxy data. Under such conditions, data assimilation allows for an internally consistent assessment of atmospheric CO2 changes, ocean acidification and carbonate saturation state during this period. Here, we present a reconstruction of the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum carbon cycle perturbation by assimilating seafloor sediment CaCO3 and sea surface temperature proxy data with simulations from an Earth system model, which includes a comprehensive carbonate system. Our reconstructions indicate a substantial increase in atmospheric CO2 from 890 ppm (95% credible interval: 680–1,170 ppm) to 1,980 ppm (1,680–2,280 ppm), coupled with a notable decline in pH (0.46 units, ranging from 0.31 to 0.63 units) and surface-water calcite saturation state, decreasing from 10.2 (7.5–12.8) in the pre-event period to 3.8 (2.8–5.1) during the thermal maximum. Carbonate undersaturation intensified substantially in high-latitude surface waters during the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum, paralleling the current decline in Arctic aragonite saturation driven by anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Elevated atmospheric CO2 during the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum coincided with substantial declines in the pH and carbonate saturation state of the ocean.
{"title":"Coupled decline in ocean pH and carbonate saturation during the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum","authors":"Mingsong Li, Lee R. Kump, Andy Ridgwell, Jessica E. Tierney, Gregory J. Hakim, Steven B. Malevich, Christopher J. Poulsen, Robert Tardif, Haoxun Zhang, Jiang Zhu","doi":"10.1038/s41561-024-01579-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41561-024-01579-y","url":null,"abstract":"The Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum, a climate event 56 million years ago, was characterized by rapid carbon release and extensive ocean acidification. However, our understanding of acidification and the evolution of ocean saturation states continues to be hindered by considerable uncertainties, primarily stemming from the limited availability of proxy data. Under such conditions, data assimilation allows for an internally consistent assessment of atmospheric CO2 changes, ocean acidification and carbonate saturation state during this period. Here, we present a reconstruction of the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum carbon cycle perturbation by assimilating seafloor sediment CaCO3 and sea surface temperature proxy data with simulations from an Earth system model, which includes a comprehensive carbonate system. Our reconstructions indicate a substantial increase in atmospheric CO2 from 890 ppm (95% credible interval: 680–1,170 ppm) to 1,980 ppm (1,680–2,280 ppm), coupled with a notable decline in pH (0.46 units, ranging from 0.31 to 0.63 units) and surface-water calcite saturation state, decreasing from 10.2 (7.5–12.8) in the pre-event period to 3.8 (2.8–5.1) during the thermal maximum. Carbonate undersaturation intensified substantially in high-latitude surface waters during the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum, paralleling the current decline in Arctic aragonite saturation driven by anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Elevated atmospheric CO2 during the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum coincided with substantial declines in the pH and carbonate saturation state of the ocean.","PeriodicalId":19053,"journal":{"name":"Nature Geoscience","volume":"17 12","pages":"1299-1305"},"PeriodicalIF":15.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142599828","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-11DOI: 10.1038/s41561-024-01580-5
Andrew Jarvis, Piers M. Forster
Assessing compliance with the human-induced warming goal in the Paris Agreement requires transparent, robust and timely metrics. Linearity between increases in atmospheric CO2 and temperature offers a framework that appears to satisfy these criteria, producing human-induced warming estimates that are at least 30% more certain than alternative methods. Here, for 2023, we estimate humans have caused a global increase of 1.49 ± 0.11 °C relative to a pre-1700 baseline. Humans have caused 1.49 °C of warming compared with a pre-1700 baseline, a global estimate based on the linear relationship between atmospheric CO2 and temperature.
{"title":"Estimated human-induced warming from a linear temperature and atmospheric CO2 relationship","authors":"Andrew Jarvis, Piers M. Forster","doi":"10.1038/s41561-024-01580-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41561-024-01580-5","url":null,"abstract":"Assessing compliance with the human-induced warming goal in the Paris Agreement requires transparent, robust and timely metrics. Linearity between increases in atmospheric CO2 and temperature offers a framework that appears to satisfy these criteria, producing human-induced warming estimates that are at least 30% more certain than alternative methods. Here, for 2023, we estimate humans have caused a global increase of 1.49 ± 0.11 °C relative to a pre-1700 baseline. Humans have caused 1.49 °C of warming compared with a pre-1700 baseline, a global estimate based on the linear relationship between atmospheric CO2 and temperature.","PeriodicalId":19053,"journal":{"name":"Nature Geoscience","volume":"17 12","pages":"1222-1224"},"PeriodicalIF":15.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-024-01580-5.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142598348","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-08DOI: 10.1038/s41561-024-01585-0
Luiz A. T. Machado, Gabriela R. Unfer, Sebastian Brill, Stefanie Hildmann, Christopher Pöhlker, Yafang Cheng, Jonathan Williams, Harder Hartwig, Meinrat O. Andreae, Paulo Artaxo, Joachim Curtius, Marco A. Franco, Micael A. Cecchini, Achim Edtbauer, Thorsten Hoffmann, Bruna Holanda, Théodore Khadir, Radovan Krejci, Leslie A. Kremper, Yunfan Liu, Bruno B. Meller, Mira L. Pöhlker, Carlos A. Quesada, Akima Ringsdorf, Ilona Riipinen, Susan Trumbore, Stefan Wolff, Jos Lelieveld, Ulrich Pöschl
Atmospheric aerosol particles are essential for forming clouds and precipitation, thereby influencing Earth’s energy budget, water cycle and climate on regional and global scales. However, the origin of aerosol particles over the Amazon rainforest during the wet season is poorly understood. Earlier studies showed new particle formation in the outflow of deep convective clouds and suggested a downward flux of aerosol particles during precipitation events. Here we use comprehensive aerosol, trace gas and meteorological data from the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory to show that rainfall regularly induces bursts of nanoparticles in the nucleation size range. This can be attributed to rain-related scavenging of larger particles and a corresponding reduction of the condensation sink, along with an ozone injection into the forest canopy, which could increase the oxidation of biogenic volatile organic compounds, especially terpenes, and enhance new particle formation. During and after rainfall, the nucleation particle concentrations directly above the canopy are greater than those higher up. This gradient persists throughout the wet season for the nucleation size range, indicating continuous particle formation within the canopy, a net upward flux of newly formed particles and a paradigm shift in understanding aerosol–cloud–precipitation interactions in the Amazon. Particle bursts provide a plausible explanation for the formation of cloud condensation nuclei, leading to the local formation of green-ocean clouds and precipitation. Our findings suggest that an interplay of a rain-related reduction in the condensation sink, primary emissions of gases, mainly terpenes, and particles from the forest canopy, and convective cloud processing determines the population of cloud condensation nuclei in pristine rainforest air. Rainfall induces nanoparticle bursts within the Amazon rainforest canopy by scavenging large particles and bringing down ozone-rich air, according to aerosol, trace gas and meteorology data from the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory.
{"title":"Frequent rainfall-induced new particle formation within the canopy in the Amazon rainforest","authors":"Luiz A. T. Machado, Gabriela R. Unfer, Sebastian Brill, Stefanie Hildmann, Christopher Pöhlker, Yafang Cheng, Jonathan Williams, Harder Hartwig, Meinrat O. Andreae, Paulo Artaxo, Joachim Curtius, Marco A. Franco, Micael A. Cecchini, Achim Edtbauer, Thorsten Hoffmann, Bruna Holanda, Théodore Khadir, Radovan Krejci, Leslie A. Kremper, Yunfan Liu, Bruno B. Meller, Mira L. Pöhlker, Carlos A. Quesada, Akima Ringsdorf, Ilona Riipinen, Susan Trumbore, Stefan Wolff, Jos Lelieveld, Ulrich Pöschl","doi":"10.1038/s41561-024-01585-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41561-024-01585-0","url":null,"abstract":"Atmospheric aerosol particles are essential for forming clouds and precipitation, thereby influencing Earth’s energy budget, water cycle and climate on regional and global scales. However, the origin of aerosol particles over the Amazon rainforest during the wet season is poorly understood. Earlier studies showed new particle formation in the outflow of deep convective clouds and suggested a downward flux of aerosol particles during precipitation events. Here we use comprehensive aerosol, trace gas and meteorological data from the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory to show that rainfall regularly induces bursts of nanoparticles in the nucleation size range. This can be attributed to rain-related scavenging of larger particles and a corresponding reduction of the condensation sink, along with an ozone injection into the forest canopy, which could increase the oxidation of biogenic volatile organic compounds, especially terpenes, and enhance new particle formation. During and after rainfall, the nucleation particle concentrations directly above the canopy are greater than those higher up. This gradient persists throughout the wet season for the nucleation size range, indicating continuous particle formation within the canopy, a net upward flux of newly formed particles and a paradigm shift in understanding aerosol–cloud–precipitation interactions in the Amazon. Particle bursts provide a plausible explanation for the formation of cloud condensation nuclei, leading to the local formation of green-ocean clouds and precipitation. Our findings suggest that an interplay of a rain-related reduction in the condensation sink, primary emissions of gases, mainly terpenes, and particles from the forest canopy, and convective cloud processing determines the population of cloud condensation nuclei in pristine rainforest air. Rainfall induces nanoparticle bursts within the Amazon rainforest canopy by scavenging large particles and bringing down ozone-rich air, according to aerosol, trace gas and meteorology data from the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory.","PeriodicalId":19053,"journal":{"name":"Nature Geoscience","volume":"17 12","pages":"1225-1232"},"PeriodicalIF":15.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-024-01585-0.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142596728","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-07DOI: 10.1038/s41561-024-01590-3
Atmospheric CO2 enrichment inhibits the growth and activity of autotrophic nitrifiers through aggravation of anoxic stress in a nitrogen-rich paddy soil, according to a long-term free-air CO2 enrichment experiment. This CO2-induced inhibition effect on nitrifiers might contribute to the decline of inorganic nitrogen pools in lowland soil systems.
{"title":"Carbon dioxide enrichment suppresses autotrophic nitrifiers in a rice ecosystem","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41561-024-01590-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41561-024-01590-3","url":null,"abstract":"Atmospheric CO2 enrichment inhibits the growth and activity of autotrophic nitrifiers through aggravation of anoxic stress in a nitrogen-rich paddy soil, according to a long-term free-air CO2 enrichment experiment. This CO2-induced inhibition effect on nitrifiers might contribute to the decline of inorganic nitrogen pools in lowland soil systems.","PeriodicalId":19053,"journal":{"name":"Nature Geoscience","volume":"17 12","pages":"1202-1203"},"PeriodicalIF":15.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142594427","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-07DOI: 10.1038/s41561-024-01563-6
Martin J. Baur, Andrew D. Friend, Adam F. A. Pellegrini
Wildfire activity and the hydrological cycle are strongly interlinked. While it is well known that wildfire occurrence and intensity are controlled by water availability, less is known about the effects of wildfire on plant and soil water cycling, especially at large scales. Here we investigate this by analysing fire impacts on the coupling between plant and soil water content, at the global scale, using remote sensing of soil moisture, vegetation water content and burned area. We find a strong effect of fire on plant–soil water relations, accelerating soil moisture loss by 17% and leading to faster gains in vegetation water content by 62%, both of which are positively related to fire severity and largest in forests. This effect is spatially extensive, with accelerated soil moisture loss found in 67%, and increased vegetation water content gain found in 67% of all analysed burned areas. After fire, plants also tended to have less control on their water content (that is, were more anisohydric). In summary, fire changes ecosystem functioning by increasing ecosystem water losses and shifting the relationship between soil and vegetation water budgets. With climate change, wildfire is likely to play an increasingly important role in ecosystem water cycling and subsequent ecosystem recovery. Fire affects the hydrological interactions between soil and vegetation, leading to faster soil moisture loss and accelerated vegetation water uptake, according to a global analysis of satellite observations on soil moisture, vegetation water content and burned area.
{"title":"Widespread and systematic effects of fire on plant–soil water relations","authors":"Martin J. Baur, Andrew D. Friend, Adam F. A. Pellegrini","doi":"10.1038/s41561-024-01563-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41561-024-01563-6","url":null,"abstract":"Wildfire activity and the hydrological cycle are strongly interlinked. While it is well known that wildfire occurrence and intensity are controlled by water availability, less is known about the effects of wildfire on plant and soil water cycling, especially at large scales. Here we investigate this by analysing fire impacts on the coupling between plant and soil water content, at the global scale, using remote sensing of soil moisture, vegetation water content and burned area. We find a strong effect of fire on plant–soil water relations, accelerating soil moisture loss by 17% and leading to faster gains in vegetation water content by 62%, both of which are positively related to fire severity and largest in forests. This effect is spatially extensive, with accelerated soil moisture loss found in 67%, and increased vegetation water content gain found in 67% of all analysed burned areas. After fire, plants also tended to have less control on their water content (that is, were more anisohydric). In summary, fire changes ecosystem functioning by increasing ecosystem water losses and shifting the relationship between soil and vegetation water budgets. With climate change, wildfire is likely to play an increasingly important role in ecosystem water cycling and subsequent ecosystem recovery. Fire affects the hydrological interactions between soil and vegetation, leading to faster soil moisture loss and accelerated vegetation water uptake, according to a global analysis of satellite observations on soil moisture, vegetation water content and burned area.","PeriodicalId":19053,"journal":{"name":"Nature Geoscience","volume":"17 11","pages":"1115-1120"},"PeriodicalIF":15.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-024-01563-6.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142595688","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-07DOI: 10.1038/s41561-024-01565-4
Liang Zhang, David I. Groves
Gold has both economic and cultural significance to human societies but, as Liang Zhang and David Groves explain, we owe its presence in the Earth’s crust to repeating cycles of plate tectonics.
{"title":"Tectonics’ bounty of gold","authors":"Liang Zhang, David I. Groves","doi":"10.1038/s41561-024-01565-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41561-024-01565-4","url":null,"abstract":"Gold has both economic and cultural significance to human societies but, as Liang Zhang and David Groves explain, we owe its presence in the Earth’s crust to repeating cycles of plate tectonics.","PeriodicalId":19053,"journal":{"name":"Nature Geoscience","volume":"17 11","pages":"1074-1074"},"PeriodicalIF":15.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142595710","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-07DOI: 10.1038/s41561-024-01591-2
Geologists are seeking new critical mineral resources that are needed to support the world’s transition to net-zero carbon emissions.
地质学家们正在寻找新的关键矿产资源，以支持世界向碳净零排放过渡。
{"title":"Minerals power the green transition","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41561-024-01591-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41561-024-01591-2","url":null,"abstract":"Geologists are seeking new critical mineral resources that are needed to support the world’s transition to net-zero carbon emissions.","PeriodicalId":19053,"journal":{"name":"Nature Geoscience","volume":"17 11","pages":"1067-1067"},"PeriodicalIF":15.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-024-01591-2.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142595744","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-07DOI: 10.1038/s41561-024-01573-4
Jeppe Å. Kristensen, Laura Barbero-Palacios, Isabel C. Barrio, Ida B. D. Jacobsen, Jeffrey T. Kerby, Efrén López-Blanco, Yadvinder Malhi, Mathilde Le Moullec, Carsten W. Mueller, Eric Post, Katrine Raundrup, Marc Macias-Fauria
Planting trees has become a popular solution for climate change mitigation, owing to the ability of trees to accumulate carbon in biomass and thereby reduce anthropogenic atmospheric CO2 enrichment. As conditions for tree growth expand with global warming, tree-planting projects have been introduced in regions of the highest northern latitudes. However, several lines of evidence suggest that high-latitude tree planting is counterproductive to climate change mitigation. In northern boreal and Arctic regions, tree planting results in net warming due to increased surface darkness (decreased albedo), which counteracts potential mitigation effects from carbon storage in areas where biomass is limited and of low resilience. Furthermore, tree planting disturbs pools of soil carbon, which store most of the carbon in cold ecosystems, and has negative effects on native Arctic biota and livelihoods. Despite the immediate economic prospects that northern tree planting may represent, this approach does not constitute a valid climate-warming-mitigation strategy in either the Arctic or most of the boreal forest region. This has been known for decades, but as policies that incentivize tree planting are increasingly adopted across the high-latitude region, we warn against a narrow focus on biomass carbon storage. Instead, we call for a systems-oriented consideration of climate solutions that are rooted in an understanding of the whole suite of relevant Earth system processes that affect the radiative balance. This is crucial to avoid the implementation of ineffective or even counterproductive climate-warming mitigation strategies in the Arctic and boreal regions. Planting trees in high-latitude regions can be counterproductive to climate change mitigation, according to a synthesis of the biophysical and ecological impacts of planting trees.
{"title":"Tree planting is no climate solution at northern high latitudes","authors":"Jeppe Å. Kristensen, Laura Barbero-Palacios, Isabel C. Barrio, Ida B. D. Jacobsen, Jeffrey T. Kerby, Efrén López-Blanco, Yadvinder Malhi, Mathilde Le Moullec, Carsten W. Mueller, Eric Post, Katrine Raundrup, Marc Macias-Fauria","doi":"10.1038/s41561-024-01573-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41561-024-01573-4","url":null,"abstract":"Planting trees has become a popular solution for climate change mitigation, owing to the ability of trees to accumulate carbon in biomass and thereby reduce anthropogenic atmospheric CO2 enrichment. As conditions for tree growth expand with global warming, tree-planting projects have been introduced in regions of the highest northern latitudes. However, several lines of evidence suggest that high-latitude tree planting is counterproductive to climate change mitigation. In northern boreal and Arctic regions, tree planting results in net warming due to increased surface darkness (decreased albedo), which counteracts potential mitigation effects from carbon storage in areas where biomass is limited and of low resilience. Furthermore, tree planting disturbs pools of soil carbon, which store most of the carbon in cold ecosystems, and has negative effects on native Arctic biota and livelihoods. Despite the immediate economic prospects that northern tree planting may represent, this approach does not constitute a valid climate-warming-mitigation strategy in either the Arctic or most of the boreal forest region. This has been known for decades, but as policies that incentivize tree planting are increasingly adopted across the high-latitude region, we warn against a narrow focus on biomass carbon storage. Instead, we call for a systems-oriented consideration of climate solutions that are rooted in an understanding of the whole suite of relevant Earth system processes that affect the radiative balance. This is crucial to avoid the implementation of ineffective or even counterproductive climate-warming mitigation strategies in the Arctic and boreal regions. Planting trees in high-latitude regions can be counterproductive to climate change mitigation, according to a synthesis of the biophysical and ecological impacts of planting trees.","PeriodicalId":19053,"journal":{"name":"Nature Geoscience","volume":"17 11","pages":"1087-1092"},"PeriodicalIF":15.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142595691","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-05DOI: 10.1038/s41561-024-01589-w
Field measurements and computer simulations show how fishing methods that drag weighted nets along the seabed counteract the seafloor sediments’ role as a carbon sink. The effect is ambiguous in weakly trawled areas but becomes clear in intensely trawled grounds.
{"title":"Chronic intense bottom trawling reduces marine carbon sequestration","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41561-024-01589-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41561-024-01589-w","url":null,"abstract":"Field measurements and computer simulations show how fishing methods that drag weighted nets along the seabed counteract the seafloor sediments’ role as a carbon sink. The effect is ambiguous in weakly trawled areas but becomes clear in intensely trawled grounds.","PeriodicalId":19053,"journal":{"name":"Nature Geoscience","volume":"17 12","pages":"1200-1201"},"PeriodicalIF":15.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142580153","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：