30.03.2017

Skógur hefur bein áhrif á vatnsbúskap og loftslag þar sem hann vex. Niðurstöður nýrrar rannsóknar sýna að þau áhrif skóga að jafna hringrásir vatns og hitasveiflur eiga ekki eingöngu við um meginlönd heldur eru þessi áhrif líka staðbundin.

Vitað hefur verið um þessi áhrif skóganna á mælikvarða stórra veðrakerfa og heimsálfa en vitneskju hefur skort um sambærileg staðbundin áhrif. Sérstaklega vilja menn vita betur hvaða áhrif skógar í tempraða beltinu hafa á skýjafar. Í rannsókninni er sýnt fram á með mælingum að stór skógasvæði í Vestur-Evrópu hafa veruleg áhrif á skýjamyndun. Til dæmis dró talsvert úr skýjamyndun yfir Landes-skóginum í Gascogne í Suðvestur-Frakklandi eftir verulegt vindfall sem þar varð þegar fellibylurinn Kláus gekk þar yfir 2009.

Forests impact regional hydrology and climate directly by regulating water and heat fluxes.
Indirect effects through cloud formation and precipitation can be important in facilitating
continental-scale moisture recycling but are poorly understood at regional scales.
In particular, the impact of temperate forest on clouds is largely unknown. Here we provide
observational evidence for a strong increase in cloud cover over large forest regions in
western Europe based on analysis of 10 years of 15 min resolution data from geostationary
satellites. In addition, we show that widespread windthrow by cyclone Klaus in the Landes
forest led to a significant decrease in local cloud cover in subsequent years. Strong
cloud development along the downwind edges of larger forest areas are consistent with a
forest-breeze mesoscale circulation. Our results highlight the need to include impacts on
cloud formation when evaluating the water and climate services of temperate forests, in


particular around densely populated areas

. Available from:

Observational evidence for cloud cover enhancement over western European forests

[accessed Mar 30, 2017].

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312405559_Observational_evidence_for_cloud_cover_enhancement_over_western_European_forests
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