Decreased cloud cover partially offsets the cooling effects of surface albedo change due to deforestation

Decreased cloud cover partially offsets the cooling effects of surface albedo change due to deforestation | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Decreased cloud cover partially offsets the cooling effects of surface albedo change due to deforestation Hao Luo, Johannes Quaas, Yong Han This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4019501/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 26 Aug, 2024 Read the published version in Nature Communications → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Biophysical processes of forests affect climate through the regulation of surface water and heat fluxes, which leads to further effects through the adjustment of clouds and water cycles. These indirect biophysical effects of forests on clouds and their radiative forcing are poorly understood but highly relevant in the context of large-scale deforestation or afforestation, respectively. Here, we provide evidence for local decreases in global low-level clouds and tropical high-level clouds from deforestation through both idealized deforestation simulations with climate models and from observations-driven reanalysis using space-for-time substitution. The decreased cloud cover can be explained by alterations in surface turbulent heat flux, which diminishes uplift and moisture to varying extents. Deforestation-induced reduction in cloud cover warms the climate, partially counteracting the cooling effects of increased surface albedo. The findings from idealized deforestation experiments and space-for-time substitution exhibit disparities, with global average offsets of, respectively, approximately 44% and 26%, suggesting the necessity for further constraints. Earth and environmental sciences/Climate sciences/Climate change Earth and environmental sciences/Climate sciences/Atmospheric science Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files forestcloudSupplementary.pdf Supplementary Information Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 26 Aug, 2024 Read the published version in Nature Communications → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4019501","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":277296961,"identity":"869f7bd4-694c-4941-a4a1-cb0b0bc675c8","order_by":0,"name":"Hao Luo","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABCUlEQVRIie3RMUvDQBTA8XcEzuXRrFf8EidCUSrpB3FJOEgXz8Wlk1wJxKUfwEDRrxC/wcmDdrOrkEURnDpkkgwdPBEVh6QdBe/PDY/j/eDgAHy+P1gPgEPdnAAEwfTp61Z0Ee4OK2apIyyTO5MAObmR5d+b3USoxQvi6jS8YkbAhkbSBvcVQnTeTtLxwfyo0tfEjGQ5JaXlaoigLtrJ2UCssdLGkZgZiqXFwT6CTUwXQf6gbx2xnw8L37aSPnKrS2JTA5xYaZF3E3xN+8VM6TtiGST5OCmIHx7PpWol4Z5aiLqJ9M2Klk29GY56y+z5cT2JWsnvYsjcn35MctvqT5e7r/p8Pt+/6R32lVTVDEl/AwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6648-4234","institution":"Sun Yat-sen University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hao","middleName":"","lastName":"Luo","suffix":""},{"id":277296962,"identity":"969cf8e3-c7c6-4b0c-a307-ed99bf62ff8c","order_by":1,"name":"Johannes Quaas","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7057-194X","institution":"Universitaet Leipzig","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Johannes","middleName":"","lastName":"Quaas","suffix":""},{"id":277296963,"identity":"5bd3a003-ee10-425d-9a30-12c3c287b1d6","order_by":2,"name":"Yong Han","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3297-2782","institution":"Sun Yat-sen University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yong","middleName":"","lastName":"Han","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-03-06 06:00:16","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4019501/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4019501/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51783-y","type":"published","date":"2024-08-26T04:00:00+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":63344833,"identity":"b9d92ff6-c4d0-424e-88ea-89b341dc8c63","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-08-27 07:15:52","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1728594,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"forestcloud.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4019501/v1_covered_83b5a7a6-e505-40a7-8519-2b56a687556a.pdf"},{"id":60866853,"identity":"e8931b76-5e9f-4a30-b2dd-5f889d670625","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-07-23 03:36:35","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":3770342,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eSupplementary Information\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"forestcloudSupplementary.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4019501/v1/85e301c66b745bda85956332.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Decreased cloud cover partially offsets the cooling effects of surface albedo change due to deforestation","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4019501/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4019501/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Biophysical processes of forests affect climate through the regulation of surface water and heat fluxes, which leads to further effects through the adjustment of clouds and water cycles. 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