Contrasting climate and carbon-cycle consequences of fossil-fuel use versus deforestation disturbance
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15545447 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Koramanghat Unnikrishnan Jayakrishnan (0000-0001-5518-2356, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, corresponding author), Govindasamy Bala (0000-0002-3079-0600, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore), Long Cao (0000-0002-8336-4242, Zhejiang University), Ken Caldeira (0000-0002-4591-643X, Carnegie Institution for Science) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 064020-064020 |
| Publication date | 2022-04-25 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environmental Research Letters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1748-9326 • E-ISSN: 1748-9326 |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1088/1748-9326/ac69fd |
| OpenAlex | W4224529725 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 2 |
Carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation disturbance (e.g. clear-cutting, forest fires) are in the same units as carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels. However, if the forest is allowed to regrow, there is a large difference between climate effects of that forest disturbance and climate effects of fossil CO 2 . In this study, using a set of idealized global climate-carbon model simulations with equal amounts of CO 2 emissions, we show that on century to millennial timescales the response of the climate system to fossil-fuel burning versus deforestation disturbance are vastly different. We performed two 1000 year simulations where we add abrupt emissions of about 600 PgC to the preindustrial state as a consequence of either fossil fuel use or deforestation disturbance with vegetation regrowth. In the fossil fuel simulations, after 1000 years, about 20% of the initial atmospheric CO 2 concentration perturbation remains in the atmosphere and the climate is about 1 °C warmer compared to preindustrial state. In contrast, in the case of deforestation with regrowth, after 1000 years, atmospheric CO 2 concentration returns close to preindustrial values, because deforested land will typically recover its carbon over the decades and centuries in the absence of further human intervention. These results highlight the differences in the degree of long-term commitment associated with fossil-fuel versus deforestation emissions
Atmospheric sciences · Carbon cycle · Carbon dioxide · Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere · Climate change · Climatology · Deforestation (computer science · Disturbance (geology · Ecosystem · Fossil fuel · Greenhouse gas · Vegetation (pathology · Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics · Climate variability and models · Environmental Science · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Ecology · Geology · Oceanography
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |