Sensitivity of the regional European boreal climate to changes in surface properties resulting from structural vegetation perturbations

Rydsaa, J. H.; Stordal, F.; Tallaksen, L. M.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-3071-2015

Articles | Volume 12, issue 10

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-3071-2015

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-3071-2015

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 12, issue 10

Research article

|

27 May 2015

Research article |

| 27 May 2015

Sensitivity of the regional European boreal climate to changes in surface properties resulting from structural vegetation perturbations

J. H. Rydsaa, F. Stordal, and L. M. Tallaksen

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Final revised paper (published on 27 May 2015)
Preprint (discussion started on 07 Nov 2014)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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- Supplement

RC C6928: 'Review of “Long term effects on regional European boreal climate due to structural vegetation changes”', Anonymous Referee #1, 22 Nov 2014
- AC C8942: 'Final author response to referee #1', Johanne H. Rydsaa, 28 Feb 2015
RC C6985: 'Review of: ``Long term effects on regional European boreal climate due to structural vegetation changes''', Anonymous Referee #2, 26 Nov 2014
- AC C8943: 'Final author response to referee #2', Johanne H. Rydsaa, 28 Feb 2015

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

AR by Anna Wenzel on behalf of the Authors (16 Mar 2015) Author's response

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (16 Mar 2015) by Paul Stoy

RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (27 Mar 2015)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

The authors have answered my comments in a satisfactory manner. I only have some technical comments. Also, I have marked some typos. It seems the manuscript could benefit from a rigorous spell checker.

1. P 1, L 14 and elsewhere: "Arctic" instead of "arctic"

2. P 1, L 21: "cause" instead of "causes"

3. P 3, L 19: Atmospheric CO2 doubling over which period? Currently it reads as if doubling occurs every decade.

4. P 4, L 26: "circulation" instead of "circulations"

5. P 10, L 4 and elsewhere: "10-year simulation" instead of"10 year simulation"

6. P 10, L 24: "notably" instead of "notable"

7. P 10, L 25: Are the increase in albedo and decrease in LAI occurring throughout the year or only in winter when deciduous forest trees loose their leafs?

8. P 11, L 25: There seems to be an increase in latent heat flux despite reduced wind speed. Please check if this is due to the different rooting depth of the vegetation and/or changes in albedo.

9. P 12, L 24: "shows" instead of "show"

10. P 12, L 30: Isn’t soil water content increasing when deeper forest roots can hold more water? I assume you mean “increasing” instead of “lowering” because the caption in Fig. 9 reads”Note that red colors indicate dryer-, and blue wetter conditions”. I also assume the color bars in Fig. 9 need to be flipped. Soil moisture is also greatly affected by precipitation. A more detailed precipitation analysis could clarify this.

11. P 13, L 11: “circled” instead of “circeled”

12. P 13, L 13: Ex2-Ex1 is positive, or am I missing something? Why is the increase in autumn and spring stronger than in summer and winter? Is this reIated to rainfall? It should be “increase” instead of "decrease".

13. P 13, L 23: “statistically” instead of “satistically”

14. P 13, L 24: No comma before “is”

15. P 14, L 6: Can you comment on why the peak is in summer? Why is it not in winter, when deciduous trees are dormant and evergreen trees still active? I assume absolute values are largest in summer, so differences are also largest?

16. P 14, L 16: Forests do not subtract moisture, they keep the soil moist and thus increase soil moisture compared to tundra, where moisture can not be stored and therefore leads to more runoff. Again, check the color bars in Fig. 9.

17. P 16, L 14: "assumptions" instead of “assumtions”

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RR by Anonymous Referee #3 (15 Apr 2015)

ED: Publish subject to technical corrections (18 Apr 2015) by Paul Stoy

AR by Johanne H. Rydsaa on behalf of the Authors (25 Apr 2015) Author's response Manuscript

Short summary

MODIS land surface data with WRF V3.5.1 and Noah LSM is used to investigate the sensitivity of the atmosphere to changes in structural vegetation in the boreal ecosystem. Results show that high north evergreen forest expansion leads to larger latent heat fluxes, while increased summer precipitation and reduced wind speed lead to lower sensible heat flux. Replacement of evergreen forest with mixed forest have largely opposite effects, moderating the regional effects on the atmosphere.