Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Feb 25;111(8):2915-9.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1315126111. Epub 2014 Feb 10.

Afforestation in China cools local land surface temperature

Shu-Shi Peng  1 , Shilong Piao, Zhenzhong Zeng, Philippe Ciais, Liming Zhou, Laurent Z X Li, Ranga B Myneni, Yi Yin, Hui Zeng
Affiliations

Afforestation in China cools local land surface temperature

Shu-Shi Peng et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

China has the largest afforested area in the world (∼62 million hectares in 2008), and these forests are carbon sinks. The climatic effect of these new forests depends on how radiant and turbulent energy fluxes over these plantations modify surface temperature. For instance, a lower albedo may cause warming, which negates the climatic benefits of carbon sequestration. Here, we used satellite measurements of land surface temperature (LST) from planted forests and adjacent grasslands or croplands in China to understand how afforestation affects LST. Afforestation is found to decrease daytime LST by about 1.1 ± 0.5 °C (mean ± 1 SD) and to increase nighttime LST by about 0.2 ± 0.5 °C, on average. The observed daytime cooling is a result of increased evapotranspiration. The nighttime warming is found to increase with latitude and decrease with average rainfall. Afforestation in dry regions therefore leads to net warming, as daytime cooling is offset by nighttime warming. Thus, it is necessary to carefully consider where to plant trees to realize potential climatic benefits in future afforestation projects.

Keywords: climate change mitigation; plantation effects; surface cooling; vegetation feedback.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Spatial distribution of planted forest in China and an example of a 40 × 40 km sample area. (A) Spatial distribution map of PF with mean annual precipitation background. (B) Land cover types; (C) daytime LST; and (D) nighttime LST for the example sample area.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Differences (mean ± SD) in annual LST between PF and the adjacent NF, GR, and CR during the daytime (∼10:30 AM and ∼13:30 PM) and nighttime (∼23:30 PM and ∼01:30 AM) in China during the period 2003–2010.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Differences (mean ± SD) in annual (A) albedo (ΔAlbedo, %) and (B) evapotranspiration (ΔET, mm day−1) between PF and the adjacent NF, GR, and CR in China during the period 2003–2010.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.
Mean seasonal cycle of differences in (A) daytime and (B) nighttime LST, (C) ΔAlbedo (%), and (D) ΔET (mm day−1) between PF and the adjacent GR and CR in northern China (north of 35°N) during the period 2003–2010. The colorful lines and lighted shaded areas represent the mean and SD of all sample grid cells north of 35°N, respectively.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2010) Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Available at: http://www.fao.org/forestry/fra/fra2010/en/. Accessed February 7, 2012.
    1. State Forestry Administration of the People's Republic of China . Seventh National Forest Resource Inventory Report (2004-2008) Beijing: State Forestry Administration of the People's Republic of China; 2009.
    1. Fang JY, Chen AP, Peng CH, Zhao SQ, Ci L. Changes in forest biomass carbon storage in China between 1949 and 1998. Science. 2001;292(5525):2320–2322. - PubMed
    1. Piao SL, et al. The carbon balance of terrestrial ecosystems in China. Nature. 2009;458(7241):1009–1013. - PubMed
    1. Bala G, et al. Combined climate and carbon-cycle effects of large-scale deforestation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2007;104(16):6550–6555. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types