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Tropical forest loss alters land surface temperature more than tropical forest gain

Nature Geoscience volume 17, pages 379–380 (2024)Cite this article

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A study using multiple satellite observations shows that the land-surface warming due to tropical forest loss is stronger than the cooling due to tropical forest gain. This effect should be included in Earth system models, particularly as tropical afforestation is considered to be a natural climate solution.

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Fig. 1: Sensitivity of daytime land-surface temperature (LST) to forest loss or gain.

References

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This is a summary of: Zhang, Y. et al. Asymmetric impacts of forest gain and loss on tropical land surface temperature. Nat. Geosci. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-024-01423-3 (2024).

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Tropical forest loss alters land surface temperature more than tropical forest gain. Nat. Geosci. 17, 379–380 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-024-01424-2

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