Land and Climate Seminar - Reflect sunlight or use it to store carbon?

Speaker: Alexander Graf

The earth’s radiation budget is affected by human activities in the shortwave region via planetary albedo, and in the longwave region via emission of greenhouse gases. Land management often affects both at the same time – e.g., the use of afforestation to mitigate global warming has been questioned because forests typically absorb more sunlight. In a study based on global FLUXNET monitoring data, we examined whether there is a general relationship between carbon uptake and albedo of land cover types and if there are options left to maximize both at the same time.