Satellites reveal recent increases in global land surface albedo that moderates global warming

Satellites reveal recent increases in global land surface albedo that moderates global warming | 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 Physical Sciences - Article Satellites reveal recent increases in global land surface albedo that moderates global warming Liqiang Zhang, Zhengyang Hou, Jingjing Peng, Giovanni Forzieri, and 15 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4426295/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 28 May, 2025 Read the published version in Nature → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Surface albedo greatly impacts how much energy the Earth absorbs. Intense human activities and rapid climate change have caused notable changes in surface albedo. Yet, how land use/land cover (LULC) and snow dynamics drive the global land surface mean albedo (GLMA) change is lack of comprehensive assessments to date. Thus, the GLMA dynamics over the last decades and their corresponding radiative forcing to the climate system remains poorly understood. Here, we construct a satellite-based, seamless monthly dataset of global land surface albedo and LULC look-up maps from 2001 to 2020. We then quantify the individual and combined effects of snow cover dynamics, LULC conversions and LULC non-conversion regions on albedo variations and their induced radiative forcing. From 2001 to 2020, GLMA increased by 0.6%, and the induced global radiative forcing was -0.0768±0.0253 W/m 2 . During the recent two decades, albedo over snow-free regions significantly increased by 2.28% with radiative forcing of -0.1257±0.0025 W/m 2 . This forcing was 2.5 times more than that induced by snow dynamics, and was equivalent in magnitude to 45.89% of that caused by CO2 emissions and 37.41% of that caused by the total greenhouse gas emissions from 2011 to 2019 estimated in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report. The global radiative forcing owing to LULC conversions was less than one-sixth of the forcing arising from the LULC non-conversion regions. The radiative forcing induced by albedo change highlights the important role of land surface dynamics in modulating global warming. Earth and environmental sciences/Climate sciences/Climate change/Climate-change mitigation Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences/Environmental impact Land surface albedo Radiative forcing Land use/land cover Snow dynamics Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SIalbedo.pdf Supplementary Information Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 28 May, 2025 Read the published version in Nature → 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. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. 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-4426295","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Physical Sciences - Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":304579086,"identity":"6bc7045a-2b41-4224-8939-a9f5aef4c886","order_by":0,"name":"Liqiang 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Intense human activities and rapid climate change have caused notable changes in surface albedo. Yet, how land use/land cover (LULC) and snow dynamics drive the global land surface mean albedo (GLMA) change is lack of comprehensive assessments to date. Thus, the GLMA dynamics over the last decades and their corresponding radiative forcing to the climate system remains poorly understood. Here, we construct a satellite-based, seamless monthly dataset of global land surface albedo and LULC look-up maps from 2001 to 2020. We then quantify the individual and combined effects of snow cover dynamics, LULC conversions and LULC non-conversion regions on albedo variations and their induced radiative forcing. From 2001 to 2020, GLMA increased by 0.6%, and the induced global radiative forcing was -0.0768±0.0253 W/m\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e. 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