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Caption
The direct and indirect effects of afforestation on climate forcing at high latitudes and their relative magnitudes over the lifetime of a plantation.
a, Plantation establishment disrupts the previously intact soil,
leading to increased decomposition of microbial carbon (1), which is exacerbated by enhanced soil insulation caused by increased snow trapping and reduced snow packing (2). Growing trees exude carbon from their roots accelerating
the turnover of soil carbon by root-associated microbes (3). As the plantation matures, trees darken the surface and diminish the proportion of energy reflected to the atmosphere (4). When a plantation is disturbed, the albedo increases while carbon stored in biomass decreases (5).
Credit
Laura Barbero-Palacios, Greenland Institute of Natural Resources
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License
CC BY-NC