Different response of surface temperature and air temperature to deforestation in a climate model

Deforestation affects temperatures at the land surface and higher up in the atmosphere. Satellite-based observations typically register deforestation-induced changes in surface temperature, in-situ observations register changes in near-surface air temperature, and climate models simulate changes in both temperatures and the temperature of the lowest atmospheric layer. Yet a focused analysis of how these variables respond differently to deforestation is missing. Here, this is investigated by analyzing the biogeophysical temperature effects of large-scale deforestation in the climate model MPI-ESM, separately for local effects (which are only apparent at the location of deforestation) and nonlocal effects (which are also apparent elsewhere). While the nonlocal effects affect the temperature of the surface and lowest atmospheric layer equally, the local effects mainly affect the temperature of the surface. In agreement with observation-based studies, the local effects on surface and near-surface air temperature respond differently in the MPI-ESM, both concerning the magnitude of local temperature changes and the latitude at which the local deforestation effects turn from a cooling to a warming (at 45–55° N for surface temperature and around 35° N for near-surface air temperature). An inter-model comparison shows that in the northern mid latitudes, both for summer and winter, near-surface air temperature is affected by the 5local effects only about half as much compared to surface temperature. Thus, studies about the biogeophysical effects of deforestation must carefully choose which temperature they consider