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Evaporative Resistance is of Equal Importance as Surface Albedo in High‐Latitude Surface Temperatures Due to Cloud Feedbacks
Author(s) -
Kim Jinhyuk E.,
Laguë Marysa M.,
Pennypacker Sam,
Dawson Eliza,
Swann Abigail L. S.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2019gl085663
Subject(s) - albedo (alchemy) , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , arctic , cloud cover , vegetation (pathology) , evaporative cooler , climatology , latitude , climate change , meteorology , geology , cloud computing , geography , art , medicine , oceanography , geodesy , pathology , performance art , computer science , art history , operating system
Arctic vegetation is known to influence Arctic surface temperatures through albedo. However, it is less clear how plant evaporative resistance and albedo independently influence surface climate at high latitudes. We use surface properties derived from two common Arctic tree types to simulate the climate response to a change in land surface albedo and evaporative resistance in factorial combinations. We find that lower evaporative resistances lead to an increase of low clouds. The reflection of light due to the difference in albedos between vegetation types is similar to the loss of incident sunlight due to increased cloud cover resulting from lower evaporative resistance from vegetation change. Our results demonstrate that realistic changes in evaporative resistance can have an equal impact on surface temperature to changes in albedo and that cloud feedbacks play a first‐order role in determining the surface climate response to changes in Arctic land cover.