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While the authors have recognized the "Albedo Effect" of forests, they have failed to consider the climate tempering effect (cooler in summer/day, warmer in winter/night) of the vast amounts of water stored in, under and above forests. The wellknown "thermal stability" of water is exactly the same whether it is in oceans or forests. |
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| The failure of our scientists to recognize the powerful and profound climatic effect of the "thermal inertia" of water stored in forests (see the vast difference between desert and rainforest climates) is most troubling, and especially so since the thermal inertia of water is common grade school science knowledge.
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Original Abstract:
Vegetation Induced Warming of High Latitude Regions During the Late Creataceous Period
Modelling studies of pre-Quaternary (>million years ago) climate implicate atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, land elevation and land--sea distribution as important factors influencing global climate change over geological timescales. But during times of global warmth, such as the Cretaceous period and Eocene epoch, there are large discrepancies between model simulations of high latitude and continental-interior temperatures and those indicated by paleotemperature records.
Here the authors use a global climate model for the latest Cretaceous (66 million years ago) to examine the role played by high- and middle-latitude forests in surface temperature regulation. In their simulations, this forest vegetation warms the global climate by 2.2 degrees C. The low-albedo deciduous forests cause high-latitude land areas to warm, which then transfer more heat to adjacent oceans, thus delaying sea-ice formation and raising winter temperatures over coastal land.
Overall, the inclusion of some of the physical and physiological climate feedback effects of high-latitude forests vegetation in their simulations reduces the existing discrepancies between observed and modelled climates of the latest Creatceous, suggesting that these forests may have made an important contribution to climate regulation during periods of global warmth.
B L Otto-Bliesner and G R Upchurch Jr. - Letter to Nature, Nature 385, 804, February 27. 1997
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