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      Observational evidence for cloud cover enhancement over western European forests

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          Abstract

          Forests impact regional hydrology and climate directly by regulating water and heat fluxes. Indirect effects through cloud formation and precipitation can be important in facilitating continental-scale moisture recycling but are poorly understood at regional scales. In particular, the impact of temperate forest on clouds is largely unknown. Here we provide observational evidence for a strong increase in cloud cover over large forest regions in western Europe based on analysis of 10 years of 15 min resolution data from geostationary satellites. In addition, we show that widespread windthrow by cyclone Klaus in the Landes forest led to a significant decrease in local cloud cover in subsequent years. Strong cloud development along the downwind edges of larger forest areas are consistent with a forest-breeze mesoscale circulation. Our results highlight the need to include impacts on cloud formation when evaluating the water and climate services of temperate forests, in particular around densely populated areas.

          Abstract

          Forests impact continental-scale moisture recycling, but their impact on regional-scale cloud cover is little known. Here, using satellite observations, Teuling et al. illustrate enhanced cloud cover over regional forested areas in western Europe due to the establishment of a forest-breeze circulation.

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          Forests and climate change: forcings, feedbacks, and the climate benefits of forests.

          The world's forests influence climate through physical, chemical, and biological processes that affect planetary energetics, the hydrologic cycle, and atmospheric composition. These complex and nonlinear forest-atmosphere interactions can dampen or amplify anthropogenic climate change. Tropical, temperate, and boreal reforestation and afforestation attenuate global warming through carbon sequestration. Biogeophysical feedbacks can enhance or diminish this negative climate forcing. Tropical forests mitigate warming through evaporative cooling, but the low albedo of boreal forests is a positive climate forcing. The evaporative effect of temperate forests is unclear. The net climate forcing from these and other processes is not known. Forests are under tremendous pressure from global change. Interdisciplinary science that integrates knowledge of the many interacting climate services of forests with the impacts of global change is necessary to identify and understand as yet unexplored feedbacks in the Earth system and the potential of forests to mitigate climate change.
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            Climate extremes and the carbon cycle.

            The terrestrial biosphere is a key component of the global carbon cycle and its carbon balance is strongly influenced by climate. Continuing environmental changes are thought to increase global terrestrial carbon uptake. But evidence is mounting that climate extremes such as droughts or storms can lead to a decrease in regional ecosystem carbon stocks and therefore have the potential to negate an expected increase in terrestrial carbon uptake. Here we explore the mechanisms and impacts of climate extremes on the terrestrial carbon cycle, and propose a pathway to improve our understanding of present and future impacts of climate extremes on the terrestrial carbon budget.
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              Influence of the spatial distribution of vegetation and soils on the prediction of cumulus Convective rainfall

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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Nat Commun
                Nat Commun
                Nature Communications
                Nature Publishing Group
                2041-1723
                11 January 2017
                2017
                : 8
                : 14065
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Hydrology and Quantitative Water Management Group, Wageningen University & Research , Droevendaalsesteeg 3a (Lumen Building), 6708PA Wageningen, The Netherlands
                [2 ]Centre for Ecology and Hydrology , Wallingford OX10 8BB, UK
                [3 ]National Centre for Earth Observation , Wallingford OX10 8BB, UK
                [4 ]Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute , 3730AE De Bilt, The Netherlands
                [5 ]Department of Earth Sciences, VU University , 1081HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
                [6 ]Laboratory of Hydrology and Water Management, Ghent University , B-9000 Ghent, Belgium
                [7 ]Meteorology and Air Quality Group, Wageningen University & Research , Wageningen 6708PA, The Netherlands
                [8 ]LSCE/IPSL, Laboratoire CEA/CNRS/UVSQ , 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
                [9 ]Environmental Research (Alterra), Wageningen University & Research , 6708PA Wageningen, The Netherlands
                Author notes
                Article
                ncomms14065
                10.1038/ncomms14065
                5260849
                28074840
                09c8160b-d17c-405e-8e73-355bb137e064
                Copyright © 2017, The Author(s)

                This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

                History
                : 15 April 2016
                : 25 November 2016
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