Revealing the widespread potential of forests to increase low level cloud cover

Forests' role in climate change mitigation through carbon sequestration is well-established. This study investigates the often-overlooked biophysical effect of afforestation on cloud regimes. Using satellite remote sensing data, the researchers globally assessed the impact of afforestation on low-level cloud cover. The findings reveal that in 67% of sampled areas worldwide, afforestation would increase low-level cloud cover, potentially leading to a cooling effect. The study further highlights a dependence of this effect on forest type, with needleleaf forests in Europe exhibiting a stronger cloud-generating effect than broadleaf forests.

Gregory Duveiller, Federico Filipponi, Andrej Ceglar, Jędrzej Bojanowski, Ramdane Alkama, Alessandro Cescatti