2021Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

commentary and analysis The concern with respect to the anthropogenic in-put of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (Houghton et al. 1995) has resulted in proposals for long-term removal programs of this gas based on forestation and agricultural procedures. Referred to as “carbon seques-tration, ” the value of this effort is defined by the amount of CO2 removal and the length of time before it would be reemitted into the atmosphere. The extrac-tion of the CO2 from the atmosphere reduces its con-tribution as a radiatively active greenhouse gas. Landscapes that would be modified for this purpose have been referred to as “biomass farms.” However, the alteration of the land surface is likely to result in other effects on the heat energy of the at