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| Titel |
Carbon storage versus albedo change: radiative forcing of forest expansion in temperate mountainous regions of Switzerland |
| VerfasserIn |
J. Schwaab, M. Bavay, E. Davin, F. Hagedorn, F. Hüsler, M. Lehning, M. Schneebeli, E. Thürig, P. Bebi |
| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| ISSN |
1726-4170
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| Digitales Dokument |
URL |
| Erschienen |
In: Biogeosciences ; 12, no. 2 ; Nr. 12, no. 2 (2015-01-27), S.467-487 |
| Datensatznummer |
250117784
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 copernicus.org/bg-12-467-2015.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| In this study, we assess the climate mitigation potential from afforestation
in a mountainous snow-rich region (Switzerland) with strongly varying
environmental conditions. Using radiative forcing calculations, we quantify
both the carbon sequestration potential and the effect of albedo change at
high resolution. We calculate the albedo radiative forcing based on remotely
sensed data sets of albedo, global radiation and snow cover. Carbon
sequestration is estimated from changes in carbon stocks based on national
inventories. We first estimate the spatial pattern of radiative forcing (RF) across Switzerland
assuming homogeneous transitions from open land to forest. This highlights
where forest expansion still exhibits climatic benefits when including the
radiative forcing of albedo change. Second, given that forest expansion is
currently the dominant land-use change process in the Swiss Alps, we
calculate the radiative forcing that occurred between 1985 and 1997. Our
results show that the net RF of forest expansion ranges from −24 W m−2
at low elevations of the northern Prealps to 2 W m−2 at high elevations
of the Central Alps. The albedo RF increases with increasing altitude, which
offsets the CO2 RF at high elevations with long snow-covered periods,
high global radiation and low carbon sequestration. Albedo RF is
particularly relevant during transitions from open land to open forest but
not in later stages of forest development. Between 1985 and 1997, when
overall forest expansion in Switzerland was approximately 4%, the albedo
RF offset the CO2 RF by an average of 40%. We conclude that the
albedo RF should be considered at an appropriately high resolution when
estimating the climatic effect of forestation in temperate mountainous
regions. |
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