Biogeosciences www.biogeosciences.net 1726-4170 1726-4189 7 5 2010 10.5194/bg-7-1383-2010 http://www.biogeosciences.net/7/1383/2010/ http://www.biogeosciences.net/7/1383/2010/bg-7-1383-2010.html http://www.biogeosciences.net/7/1383/2010/bg-7-1383-2010.pdf 1383 1399 2010-05-04 Combined biogeophysical and biogeochemical effects of large-scale forest cover changes in the MPI earth system model S. Bathiany sebastian.bathiany@zmaw.de M. Claussen V. Brovkin T. Raddatz V. Gayler Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, KlimaCampus, Hamburg, Germany School of Integrated Climate System Sciences, KlimaCampus, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany Meteorological Institute, KlimaCampus, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany Afforestation and reforestation have become popular instruments of climate mitigation policy, as forests are known to store large quantities of carbon. However, they also modify the fluxes of energy, water and momentum at the land surface. Previous studies have shown that these biogeophysical effects can counteract the carbon drawdown and, in boreal latitudes, even overcompensate it due to large albedo differences between forest canopy and snow. This study investigates the role forest cover plays for global climate by conducting deforestation and afforestation experiments with the earth system model of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-ESM). Complete deforestation of the tropics (18.75° S–15° N) exerts a global warming of 0.4 °C due to an increase in CO₂ concentration by initially 60 ppm and a decrease in evapotranspiration in the deforested areas. In the northern latitudes (45° N–90° N), complete deforestation exerts a global cooling of 0.25 °C after 100 years, while afforestation leads to an equally large warming, despite the counteracting changes in CO₂ concentration. Earlier model studies are qualitatively confirmed by these findings. 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